Microfluidic device for the detection of glucose using a micro direct methanol fuel cell as an amperometric detection power source.

We designed and prepared a novel microbiosensing system consisting of a microbioreactor fabricated using photosensitive sheets intercalated between Pyrex wafers as a dam structure, together with a micro fuel cell as a power source device between the electrodes for amperometric detection. The dam structure retains enzyme (glucose oxidase, GOx)-immobilized microbeads in a microchannel. Microelectrodes are used as an integrated detector within a microchannel located downstream of the dam structure, and these are used to detect the oxidation current of hydrogen peroxide produced from a glucose sample and GOx. A micro direct methanol fuel cell (mu-DMFC, i.d. 500 microm) was fabricated on a polymeric substrate and was used to supply a potential for the electrochemical detector. In this case, two mu-DMFCs were stacked on one substrate to increase the voltage for the oxidation of hydrogen peroxide. A linear response curve was obtained in range from 0.1 to 10 mM glucose for the designed microbiosensing system. These results show that a microfluidic biosensing system designed with a mu-DMFC device is useful and has the potential to assist minuaturization and simplification of the sensing system, in addition to increasing disposability of the device.