Battery-Free Near Field Communication (NFC)-Assisted Advanced Ethanol Sensing Platform Based on Conjugated Polymer Nanoparticles

The incorporation of biorecognition elements with electronic components into point-of-care testing (POCT) devices expands their capabilities and enables intricate quantitative assays. The combination of near field communication (NFC) technology and biosensors offers endless possibilities in this context, which has the potential to provide simple and intelligent sensing solutions for both electrical and nonelectrical parameter measurements. In an effort to tap into this potential, we present the first example of a screen-printed electrode (SPE)-based sensing platform for ethanol in serum samples. NFC-assisted electrochemical biosensors were created using SPE and altered by drop-casting two different diketopyrrolopyrrole (DPP)-based conjugated polymer nanoparticles (poly-DPP-Se; poly-DPP-SeSe) and platinum nanoparticles (PtNPs) to construct an alcohol oxidase (AOx)-based electrochemical biosensor. The fabricated biosensors, SPE/PtNPs/poly-DPP-Se NPs/AOx and SPE/PtNPs/poly-DPP-SeSe NPs/AOx, respond linearly to ethanol in the ranges of 1.7–12.8 mM and 0.85–12.8 mM with 1.22 mM and 0.39 mM detection limits, respectively. KMapp, Imax, and sensitivity values were calculated for SPE/PtNPs/poly-DPP-Se NPs/AOx as 2.52 mM, 3.20 μA, and 2.27 μA mM–1 cm–2 and for SPE/PtNPs/poly-DPP-SeSe NPs/AOx as 0.4 mM, 2.51 μA, and 2.15 μA mM–1 cm–2, respectively. Excellent stability and electrocatalytic activity to electrooxidation of ethanol were achieved with the SPE/PtNPs/poly-DPP-SeSe NPs/AOx configuration. Furthermore, artificial serum samples were used to assess the sensor’s reliability. The experimental findings reveal that the proposed biosensors could provide ease of use, fast analysis times, portability, and reliability for food and healthcare research and applications.