>Magister Scientiae - MSc / Microfluidic paper based electrochemical sensing devices (μPEDs) provides a new way for
point of care testing (POCT). μPEDs offer an inexpensive, portable, easy to use technology too
monitor the environment and diagnose diseases, especially in developing countries in cases
where there is not enough infrastructure and a limited trained medical and health
professionals. The aim of this work is to develop a paper based electrode which can be further
integrated into a microfluidic paper device to develop miniature point of care devices. Paper
was used as a substrate for printing of the electrode because it is found everywhere,
inexpensive and it is compatible with a number of chemical, biochemical and medical
applications. Polyamic acid (PAA) was incorporated into commercial carbon ink and was used
to print the working electrode.
The first part of the study was conducted using the commercial screen printed carbon
electrodes (SPCE) to study and understand the electrochemical behaviour of PAA. Cobalt
nanoparticles and cobalt nanoparticles‐polyamic acid composites were electrochemically
deposited onto SPCE. The modified electrodes were characterised using cyclic voltammetry.
As synthesised polyamic acid were characterised using Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM)
to evaluate the morphology and chemical composition of polyamic acid. Transmission
Electron Microscopy (TEM) was used to study the particle size and chemical composition of
cobalt nanoparticles. Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) was used to study the
chemical nature of polyamic acid and cyclic voltammetry (CV) was used to study the
electrochemical behaviour of polyamic acid and cobalt nanoparticle electrodes. The diffusion
coefficients and formal potential of the electrodes were calculated. The modified and bare
electrodes were also used to electrochemically detect Norfloxacin in an aqueous solution by
CV and square wave voltammetry (SWV) and the analytical performance of the
electrochemical systems are reported here. The obtained limit of detection for the bare SPCE
was 3.7 x 10‐3 M and 14.7 x 10‐3 M for the PAA‐SPCE.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:uwc/oai:etd.uwc.ac.za:11394/7000 |
| Date | January 2019 |
| Creators | Louw, Clementine Juliat |
| Contributors | Baker, Priscilla |
| Publisher | University of the Western Cape |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | University of the Western Cape |
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