Wearable electrochemical glove-based sensor for rapid and on-site detection of fentanyl - PubMed (original) (raw)

Wearable electrochemical glove-based sensor for rapid and on-site detection of fentanyl

Abbas Barfidokht et al. Sens Actuators B Chem. 2019.

Abstract

Rapid, on-site detection of fentanyl is of critical importance, as it is an extremely potent synthetic opioid that is prone to abuse. Here we describe a wearable glove-based sensor that can detect fentanyl electrochemically on the fingertips towards decentralized testing for opioids. The glove-based sensor consists of flexible screen-printed carbon electrodes modified with a mixture of multiwalled carbon nanotubes and a room temperature ionic liquid, 4-(3-butyl-1-imidazolio)-1-butanesulfonate). The sensor shows direct oxidation of fentanyl in both liquid and powder forms with a detection limit of 10 μM using square-wave voltammetry. The "Lab-on-a-Glove" sensors, combined with a portable electrochemical analyzer, provide wireless transmission of the measured data to a smartphone or tablet for further analysis. The integrated sampling and sensing methodology on the thumb and index fingers, respectively, enables rapid screening of fentanyl in the presence of a mixture of cutting agents and offers considerable promise for timely point-of-need screening for first responders. Such a glove-based "swipe, scan, sense, and alert" strategy brings chemical analytics directly to the user's fingertips and opens new possibilities for detecting substances of abuse in emergency situations.

Keywords: Electrochemical sensors; Fentanyl; Glove based-sensor; On-site drug screening; Opioids.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing financial interest.

Figures

Figure 1.

Figure 1.

Overview of the proposed Lab-on-a-Glove concept (swipe, scan, and sense) for on-site detection of fentanyl; (A) Photograph of glove containing sensing finger modified with ionic liquid/MWCNT composition and sample collector. (B) Image showing the glove-based sensor with a portable electroanalyzer (back-view). The electrodes are connected via wires and a modified ring to PalmSens for on-site detection with wireless communication to a smartphone for rapid analysis and reporting of the SWV results. (C) Image showing suspicious sample collection in powder phase. (D) Joining of thumb (collector) and sensing (index) fingers after swiping a powder sample; inset shows the voltammograms of direct fentanyl detection in dry/liquid samples.

Figure 2:

Figure 2:

Electrochemical characterization of the glove-based sensor for fentanyl samples in liquid and powder forms. (A) Square wave voltammetric response of the glove sensor to increasing fentanyl concentrations from 10 to 100 μM (10 μM interval) in PBS (0.1 M, pH 7.4). (B) Corresponding calibration plot. (C) Sensor response toward screening powder fentanyl samples, as the residue of 5 μL fentanyl stock solution (the black curve is the signal prior to fentanyl sample swiping). (D) Control experiments swiping the surface in the absence of fentanyl.

Figure 3:

Figure 3:

Performance of the glove-based sensor toward potential interferences and cutting agents. Square wave voltammograms of (A) phosphate buffer solution and 100 μM of (B) acetaminophen, (C) caffeine, (D), fentanyl, (E) glucose and (F) theophylline in both liquid (top) and powder (bottom) forms.

Figure 4:

Figure 4:

Fentanyl response in a mixture of cutting agents. (A) Square wave voltammetric responses of liquid fentanyl (Ft) (10 to 100 μM) in a mixture containing 100 μM (fixed concentration) cutting agents of acetaminophen (Ac), caffeine, and glucose in PBS (0.1 M, pH 7.4). (B). Fentanyl response in a mixed powder (100 μM of fentanyl, acetaminophen, caffeine, and glucose were dried and formed the powder).

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