Lab-on-a-Smartphone (LOS): A smartphone-integrated, optoelectrowetting-driven environmental sensor for on-site detection of water quality

Abstract

A lab-on-a-smartphone (LOS) presents a portable environmental sensing tool that enables the monitoring of water quality by performing various detection techniques such as smartphone-integrated fluorescence microscopy and portable loop-mediated amplification (LAMP) assays. The LOS can conduct multiple laboratory functions and has experimentally demonstrated (1) automated on-chip water sample processing, (2) on-site fluorescent detection of harmful algae cells, and (3) fecal contamination of water through LAMP assays. The LOS can overcome conventional labor-intensive and time-consuming techniques for the monitoring of microbiological contaminants in environment waters.