Carbon Nanotube Amperometric Chips with Pneumatic Micropumps

We fabricated carbon nanotube (CNT) amperometric chips with pneumatic micropumps by the combination of amperometric biosensors based on CNT-arrayed electrodes and microchannels with pneumatic micropumps made of poly(dimethylsiloxane). On the chip, phosphate buffer solution and potassium ferricyanide, K₃[Fe(CN)₆], were introduced into the CNT electrodes using each pneumatic micropump and electrochemically measured by differential pulse voltammetry. The results indicate that our chip can automatically exchange reagents on the CNT electrodes and clearly detect molecules. Moreover, by modifying the CNT electrodes with enzyme glucose oxidase, glucose molecules could be detected using our chips by cyclic voltammetry and chronoamperometry. We conclude that microfluidic chips with CNT-arrayed electrodes are a promising candidate for the development of hand-held electrochemical biosensors.