An integrated passive-flow microfluidic biosensor with organic photodiodes for ultra-sensitive pathogen detection in water

This work reports on integrated passive-flow optical microfluidic devices to detect waterborne pathogens in the field. Ring-shaped organic photodiodes were integrated to a capillary-induced flow microfluidic channel for monitoring chemiluminescent sandwich immunoassays enhanced by gold nanoparticles. The integrated device yielded a resolution of 4×10
⁴
cells/mL for the detection of Legionella pneumophila, which represented a 25-fold improvement over chemiluminescence detection devices employing no gold-nanoparticle enhancement. This work demonstrates the feasibility of a low-cost but highly sensitive lab-on-a-chip device amenable for point-of-use applications.