Paper Trails
Researchers have developed a cheap and disposable diagnostic tool powered only by your fingertips. The user taps the triboelectric generator on the bottom of the self-powered paper-based electrochemical device (SPED), and electricity from the tips of the fingers is accumulated in a potentiostat. The user places a fingerprick blood sample on top of the testing region, and a measurement of different analytes, such as glucose or lactic acid, is provided in under 30 seconds. The team envisions the test being used for diagnostics in low-resource settings or by military personnel deployed in remote locations. Credit: Purdue University photo/Aniket Pal Reference: A Pal et al., “Self-Powered, Paper-Based Electrochemical Devices for Sensitive Point-of-Care Testing” Adv Mater Technol, 1700130 (2017). Would you like your photo featured in Image of the Month? Send it to charlotte.barker@texerepublishing.com
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