Miniaturized 3D Printed Microfluidic Polymeric-Paper Hybrid Device for Colorimetric Detection of Arsenic (III)

Abstract

Arsenic (As3+) is a heavy metal present in the environment causing severe effect on human and animal health due to long-term intake or physical handling through water/soil and food resources. Mitigating As3+ intake as per World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines is crucial and on-spot detection using low sample volume through colorimetric analysis is tedious. Hence, herein detection of As3+ using a hybrid device consists of chromatographic paper mantled 3D printed microfluidic device with low volume of sample is demonstrated. In the developed device, sample of interest containing arsenic reacts with citric acid in presence of NaBH4 to generate arsine gas in situ, and subsequent reaction with Ag(I) ions present at the paper device's detection zone forms dark brownish colored silver arsenide confirms the detection of As3+. Further, the device shows a linear range from 100–1000 µg/L (R2= 0.978) for As3+ with a limit of detection (LOD) of 3 µg/L. The specificity was tested against Ba2+, Cd2+, Cu2+, K+, Fe3+, Pb2+, Hg2+, Na+, and Zn2+ at 10000 µg/L, and did not observe a significant color due to non-specific interactions. Hence, the designed portable, low-cost, miniaturized 3D printed microfluidic hybrid platform for the detection of toxic As3+ could be used for ecological monitoring, and in industries.