Rapid diagnosis of COVID-19 using disposal paper capacitive sensor

• Published in: Analytica chimica acta 2023-09, Vol.1273, p.341500-341500, Article 341500
• Main Authors: Sahu, Partha P., Sarma, Geetartha, Das, Satyajit, Borkakoty, Biswajyoti
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: COVID-19 - diagnosis; COVID-19 Testing; Humans; Limonins; Pandemics; SARS-CoV-2
• ISSN: 0003-2670; 1873-4324
• DOI: 10.1016/j.aca.2023.341500

Accurate and rapid detection and isolation become indispensable to restrict the spread of COVID-19. Since the start of COVID-19 pandemic in December 2019, many indisposal diagnostic tools are being developed incessantly. Out of all presently used tools, the gold standard rRT- PCR tool having very high sensitivity and specificity is a time consuming complicated molecular technique having requirements of special expensive equipment. Here, the main focus of this work is to develop rapid disposal paper capacitance sensor having simple and easy detection. We discovered a strong interaction between limonin and Spike-glycoprotein of SARS-COV-2 in comparison to its interaction with other similar viruses such as HCOV-OC43, HCOV-NL63, HCOV-HKU1, Influenza B and A viruses. The antibody free capacitive sensor having comb electrode structure was fabricated on whatman paper with drop coating of limonin (extracted using green method from pomelo seeds) and calibrated with known swab samples. The Blind test with unknown swab samples shows high sensitivity of 91.5% and high specificity of 88.37%. Requiring low sample volume and detection time and using biodegradable materials in the sensor fabrication assure the potential application as a point of care disposal diagnostic tool. [Display omitted] •A rapid COVID-19 detection kit based on capacitive sensor based has been developed.•Limonin extracted from plant seeds has been used as sensing material.•The sensor exhibited high sensitivity of 91.5%(clinical) with high specificity of 88.37%.•Detection time for the sensor is ∼182s with sample volume requirement of 10 μL.•This paper-based sensor assures inexpensive, easy, onsite detection of COVID-19.