Microparticle filtration using carbon nanotubes and impedance characterisation for gold microelectrodes sensor system

Blood-cell-free serum is required for most clinical chemistry tests. At present bend micro channel and polymeric pillars are used in polymer based microfluidic devices (such as PMMA) for the blood filtration. In this study, we have fabricated carbon nanotube (CNT) pillars on silicon from 20-50 μm in diameter with ∼10 μm spacing and integrate them inside the microfluidic channel with a view of using these for blood plasma filtration from whole blood, with passive capillary flow. Our main objective is to design a novel sensor, comprising CNT arrays, to filter/control whole blood flow, with an integrated micro patterned gold electrode which will be sealed by bonding into microfluidics structures. We have characterized the microfluidic channel by measuring the meniscus movement profiles. Also gold inter-digitated electrodes (IDEs) were fabricated on glass and immobilized with an antibody. These IDEs were used as an impedance-based biosensor using label-free antigen - antibody interaction. At a fixed frequency, the IDEs gave a linear response across the range of concentrations of secondary antibodies investigated (0 to 500 μg/mL).