A portable and smartphone-operated photoelectrochemical reader for point-of-care biosensing

In recent years, a number of lab-made potentiostats have been developed as alternatives to the expensive commercial options to facilitate point-of-care (PoC) electrochemical biosensing. However, these devices have no means of interfacing with and controlling optical excitations sources, an essential component in photoelectrochemical (PEC) biosensing. Accordingly, this sensing modality has been relegated to laboratory applications only and can only be conducted using expensive photoelectrochemical workstations. To address this limitation, we have designed and validated a portable reader for PoC PEC biosensing (PECsense). The device can perform chronoamperometry while synchronously controlling an optical excitation source. PECsense is remotely controlled by a smartphone via the Bluetooth Low Energy communication protocol. This photoelectrochemical reader can be used in several different PEC sensing applications, including experiments with variable illumination periods, those that yield cathodic or anodic photocurrents, and those that require applied biases.