Fabrication of Low-Cost Flexible Paper-Based Alcohol Sensor

The development of alcohol sensors has been an active research area for years. Alcohol detection can be applied to medicine, agriculture, and law enforcement. On the Navajo Nation, we have limited access to centralized analytical laboratory techniques, for on-spot testing. Regarding healthcare, the collected lab sample is sent to nearby bigger cities for analysis, and results for lab work may take weeks and even months to receive a detailed report; also, law enforcement relies on state support for analytical techniques. Through the NSF-PREM research collaboration with Harvard University at the NanoElectrochemical Analysis and Energy Storage Laboratory (NEST LAB) at Navajo Technical University (NTU), we have fabricated a versatile paper-based sensor to detect several analytes. Our sensor utilizes electrochemical analytical techniques such as cyclic voltammetry to monitor the concentrations of our target analytes (alcohol). Our sensors' versatility and low-cost appeal make them suitable for alcohol detection. We can optimize our sensor to detect alcohol samples for on-spot analysis. We can also apply our sensors to detect and determine alcohols derived from the biomass. Contact Details: Justin Platero, Student Researcher, Email:justin.platero@student.navajotech.edu * Corresponding Author: Dr. Thiagarajan Soundappan, PI, NEST LAB, NTU. Email: tsoundappan@navajotech.edu Acknowledgment: NSF-PREM DMR-2122195 and USDA-NIFA-2021-38424-33455