Design and fabrication of microfluidic food spoilage sensor

Abstract

Microfluidic paper-based devices (micropads) are an advancing research area offering real-time analysis which utilizes only microlitre volumes of fluids. The main advantages of using paper as the detection platform include its affordability, portability and ease of use. Paper transports fluid based on capillary action and does not require additional devices.

The objective of this project is to design a micropad to detect ethanol. The device is fabricated using wax printing and the chemical method of detection of ethanol was used because of the colorimetric reactions.

This project also investigates the effect of channel design – constant width and contraction geometry – on the flow characteristic of ethanol. Times taken for the flow of ethanol to reach the detection zone and for the complete chemical reaction were used as a means to evaluate the device.

The findings showed that the wax printing approach and colorimetric method posed some problems. Their solutions are proposed. The investigation concluded that using constricted flow channel design was insignificant to induce a measurable effect to reduce the total testing time.