Silver-manganese nanocomposite modified screen-printed carbon electrode in the fabrication of an electrochemical, disposable biosensor strip for cystic fibrosis.

A silver-manganese nanocomposite was successfully prepared by the urea hydrolysis method and used to detect chloride ions in sweat electrochemically. The synthesis involves the reaction of manganese sulphate, silver nitrate, and urea at 100 °C for 24 h. The crystalline nature of the particle was studied by diffraction analysis and found to be mixed-phase oxides of manganese alongside the oxides of silver. Morphological studies revealed the presence of quasi-prism-like structures, which is characteristic of β-MnO2. A disposable sensor was fabricated by screen-printing the catalyst and used for the electrochemical detection of chloride ions in sweat. The sensor exhibited good selectivity, a sensitivity of 22.93 ± 0.64 µA mM-1 cm-2 in solution and 3010 ± 60 µA (log mM) -1 cm-2 for the fabricated sensor strip with a detection range from 5 mM up to 200 mM. The detection limit is 207 ± 7 µM (S/N = 3) in solution and 17 ± 6 µM for the fabricated sensor strip. The relative standard deviation (RSD) of sensor response is 2.38%. A prototype of the biosensor strip was fabricated and validated using real samples. This brings the possibility of developing a real-time biosensor strip for cystic fibrosis in point-of-care testing applications.