Suppression of Coffee-ring Effect (CRE) in the Development of Low-cost Diagnostic Kit

Abstract

One of the applications of membrane technology is using the polymeric membrane as an adsorber or assay-capturing matrix in the diagnostic kits' assembly. This study explores the addition of NaCl into a protein solution to suppress the coffee-ring effect (CRE) in developing a low-cost diagnostic kit. The highest concentration of NaCl addition shows the optimum results with no formation of CRE and high color intensity (low grey scale value). Adding NaCl into the protein solution is a safe and cheap alternative for lowering the cost of assembly, benefiting people in low-resource places.