Microfluidic Smectite-Polymer Nanocomposite Strip Sensor for Aflatoxin Detection

Aflatoxins can cause seriously toxic and carcinogenic effects on human health. Current detection methods include immunoaffinity-based assays and high performance liquid chromatography. In this paper, we report a novel aflatoxin detection array based on smectite-polyacrylamide nanocomposite and a new fluorometeric quantification method. Two concentration levels (20-80 ppb/5-15 ppb) of aflatoxin B₁-spiked corn extraction solutions are tested. Microfluidic channels are used to reduce the diffusion length and time of aflatoxin adsorption. By using incident intensity modulation, a simpler fluorometric quantification of aflatoxin concentration on sub-100 ppb levels is achieved with a hand-held 365-nm ultraviolet lamp.