Smartphone-based simultaneous pH and nitrite colorimetric determination for paper microfluidic devices

Anal Chem. 2014 Oct 7;86(19):9554-62. doi: 10.1021/ac5019205. Epub 2014 Sep 9.

Abstract

In this work, an Android application for measurement of nitrite concentration and pH determination in combination with a low-cost paper-based microfluidic device is presented. The application uses seven sensing areas, containing the corresponding immobilized reagents, to produce selective color changes when a sample solution is placed in the sampling area. Under controlled conditions of light, using the flash of the smartphone as a light source, the image captured with the built-in camera is processed using a customized algorithm for multidetection of the colored sensing areas. The developed image-processing allows reducing the influence of the light source and the positioning of the microfluidic device in the picture. Then, the H (hue) and S (saturation) coordinates of the HSV color space are extracted and related to pH and nitrite concentration, respectively. A complete characterization of the sensing elements has been carried out as well as a full description of the image analysis for detection. The results show good use of a mobile phone as an analytical instrument. For the pH, the resolution obtained is 0.04 units of pH, 0.09 of accuracy, and a mean squared error of 0.167. With regard to nitrite, 0.51% at 4.0 mg L(-1) of resolution and 0.52 mg L(-1) as the limit of detection was achieved.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Validation Study

MeSH terms

  • Cell Phone*
  • Colorimetry / methods*
  • Hydrogen-Ion Concentration*
  • Microfluidics / instrumentation*
  • Nitrites / analysis*
  • Paper*

Substances

  • Nitrites