Quantitative, high-sensitivity measurement of liquid analytes using a smartphone compass

Mark Ferris and Gary Zabow ()
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Mark Ferris: National Institute of Standards and Technology
Gary Zabow: National Institute of Standards and Technology

Nature Communications, 2024, vol. 15, issue 1, 1-10

Abstract: Abstract Smartphone ubiquity has led to rapid developments in portable diagnostics. While successful, such platforms are predominantly optics-based, using the smartphone camera as the sensing interface. By contrast, magnetics-based modalities exploiting the smartphone compass (magnetometer) remain unexplored, despite inherent advantages in optically opaque, scattering or auto-fluorescing samples. Here we report smartphone analyte sensing utilizing the built-in magnetometer for signal transduction via analyte-responsive magnetic-hydrogel composites. As these hydrogels dilate in response to targeted stimuli, they displace attached magnetic material relative to the phone’s magnetometer. Using a bilayer hydrogel geometry to amplify this motion allows for sensitive, optics-free, quantitative liquid-based analyte measurements that require neither any electronics nor power beyond that contained within the smartphone itself. We demonstrate this concept with glucose-specific and pH-responsive hydrogels, including glucose detection down to single-digit micromolar concentrations with potential for extension to nanomolar sensitivities. The platform is adaptable to numerous measurands, opening a path towards portable, inexpensive sensing of multiple analytes or biomarkers of interest.

Date: 2024
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-47073-2

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