Evaluating the performance of an inexpensive, commercially available, NFC-powered and smartphone controlled potentiostat for electrochemical sensing

Abstract

To move electrochemical sensing technology from the laboratory into point-of-care (POC)-based settings, electrochemical platforms must be cost-effective, portable, and user-friendly. Here, we present the comparison of a near-field communication (NFC) potentiostat with a traditional potentiostat. The NFC potentiostat is roughly the size of a credit card and is wirelessly powered by a smartphone with a user-friendly application for electrochemical analysis. The proposed system is portable, affordable, and provides analytical capabilities comparable to traditional benchtop potentiostats. Different redox probes were investigated, including ferricyanide, ruthenium hexamine, and hydroquinone, highlighting the ability of the NFC potentiostat to measure a variety of target analytes. In addition, the NFC potentiostat can perform several electrochemical techniques, such as cyclic voltammetry, differential pulse voltammetry, chronoamperometry and square wave voltammetry. The combination of affordable screen-printed carbon electrodes (SPCE)s with the portable, inexpensive NFC potentiostat highlights this platform‘s promise towards POC electrochemical sensing applications, particularly for medical diagnostics in rural or low-income areas.