ELECTROCHEMICAL DETECTION METHOD

• US 20150090609A1
• Filed: 05/01/2013
• Published: 04/02/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 05/01/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Universidade Estadual Paulista Jãºlio De Mesquita Filho - Unesp., Oxford University Innovation Limited (University of Oxford)
• Original Assignee: Isis Innovation Limited, Universidade Estadual Paulista Jãºlio De Mesquita Filho - Unesp.
• Inventors: Davis, Jason, Bueno, Paulo Roberto
• Granted Patent: US 10,545,113 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 205/792
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 27/026 Dielectric impedance spectroscopy electrochemical impedance spectroscopy for measuring corrosion G01N17/02
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 27/327 Biochemical electrodes , e.g. electrical or mechanical details for in vitro measurements
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 27/3275 Sensing specific biomolecules, e.g. nucleic acid strands, based on an electrode surface reaction

Abstract

Electrochemical detection method and related aspects Herein is disclosed an electrochemical test method comprising (i) comparing how a plurality of immittance functions and/or components thereof vary with a change in a parameter of interest for a first system, and then selecting an immittance function or component thereof for use in an electrochemical test; (ii) carryingout an electrochemical test step for a second system to determine at least one value for the immittance function or component thereof selected in step (i), and then, by using a quantitative relationship between the selected immittance function and the parameter of interest, determining a value in the parameter of interest. A computer program and apparatus are also disclosed herein.

Claims

1. An electrochemical test method comprising

(i) selecting an immittance function or component thereof for use in an electrochemical test, comprising:

comparing how a plurality of immittance functions and/or components thereof vary with

a change in a parameter of interest for a first system;

(ii) determining a value in the parameter of interest for a second system, comprising;

carrying out an electrochemical test step for the second system to determine at least one value for the immittance function or component thereof selected in step (i); and

using a quantitative relationship between the selected immittance function and the parameter of interest to determine a value in the parameter of interest.

2. The electrochemical test method of claim 1, further comprising:

before the comparing step (i), determining for the first system how the plurality of immittance functions and/or components thereof vary with a change in a parameter of interest and determining the quantitative relationship between the selected immittance function and the parameter of interest.

3. The electrochemical test method of claim 1, wherein the first system provides a suitable system for calibrating the parameter of interest for the second system.

4. The electrochemical test method according to claim 1, wherein the parameter of interest is the concentration of a target species in a carrier medium.

5. The electrochemical test method according to claim 1, wherein the immittance functions are selected from the group consisting of:

a complex impedance transfer function, a complex admittance function, a complex modulus transfer function, a complex dielectric constant transfer function, a complex capacitance transfer function, a complex conductance transfer function, and combinations thereof.

6. The electrochemical test method according to claim 1, wherein the method involves, before the comparing step (i), determining a plurality of immittance functions for the first system, deriving at least one component for each immittance function and, the comparing step (i) further comprises:

comparing how the at least one component for each immittance function varies with a change in the parameter of interest for the first system.

7. The electrochemical test method according to claim 6, wherein the at least one component of each immittance function is selected from the group consisting of:

the real part of the immittance function, the imaginary part of the immittance function, the amplitude of an immittance function, the phase of the immittance function, and combinations thereof.

8. The electrochemical test method according to claim 1, wherein the method involves determining a first immittance function for the first system and then generating for the first system one or more second immittance functions from the first immittance function, and then determining how the first and one or more second immittance functions and/or components thereof vary with the parameter of interest.

9. The electrochemical test method according to claim 8, wherein the generating of the one or more second immittance functions from the first immittance function for the first system involves using a phasorial analysis.

10. The electrochemical test method according to claim 1, wherein the method involves determining a first immittance function for the first system, which is an impedance immittance function, determining one or more second immittance functions other than an impedance immittance function for the first system, and then determining how the first and one or more second immittance functions and/or the components thereof vary with the parameter of interest.

11. The electrochemical test method according to claim 1, wherein the comparing comprises of at least one of:

(i) comparing the extent of variation of the immittance functions and/or components thereof with the change in the parameter of interest; and

(ii) comparing the correlation of the variation of the immittance functions and/or components thereof with the parameter of interest.

12. The electrochemical test method according to claim 1, wherein the determining involves plotting a component of each immittance function against either the concentration of a species in a carrier medium in the first system or the logarithm of the concentration of a species in a carrier medium in the first system.

13. The electrochemical test method according to claim 1, wherein the selecting of the immittance function or component thereof for use in an electrochemical test is selected from the group consisting of:

(i) selecting an immittance function having the highest variation with the amount of change in the parameter of interest;

(ii) selecting an immittance function having the highest correlation with the parameter of interest;

(iii) selecting an immittance function with a variation with the amount of change in the parameter of interest above a preselected threshold;

(iv) selecting an immittance function having a correlation with the parameter of interest above a preselected threshold; and

(v) a combination thereof.

14. The electrochemical test method according to claim 1, wherein at least one of the first system and the second system comprises a carrier medium comprising a target species, in which a working electrode is in contact with the carrier medium, and wherein the parameter of interest is a concentration of the target species in the carrier medium.

15. The electrochemical test method according to claim 14, wherein the working electrode has on a surface thereof probe moieties that bind to the target species.

16. (canceled)

17. (canceled)

18. A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising computer-readable instructions that when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform at least:

comparing how a plurality of immittance functions and/or components thereof vary with a change in a parameter of interest for a first system, and then selecting an immittance function or a component thereof.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 18, wherein the comparing comprises at least one of:

(i) comparing the extent of variation of the immittance functions and/or components thereof with the change in the parameter of interest;

or

(ii) comparing the correlation of the variation of the immittance functions and/or functions with the parameter of interest.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 19, wherein the selecting of the immittance function or component thereof for use in an electrochemical test is selected from the group consisting of:

(i) selecting an immittance function having the highest variation with the amount of change in the parameter of interest;

(ii) selecting an immittance function having the highest correlation with the parameter of interest;

(iii) selecting an immittance function with a variation above a preselected threshold with the amount of change in the parameter of interest;

(iv) selecting an immittance function having a correlation with the parameter of interest above a preselected threshold; and

(v) a combination thereof.

21. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 20, the medium further comprising computer-readable instructions that when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform at least:

before the comparing, generating from a first immittance function for a first system, one or more second immittance functions for the first system; and

determining how the first and one or more second immittance functions and/or components thereof vary with the parameter of interest.

22. A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising computer-readable instructions that when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform at least:

(i) selecting an immittance function or component thereof for use in an electrochemical test, comprising;

comparing how a plurality of immittance functions and/or components thereof vary with a change in a parameter of interest for a first system;

(ii) determining a value in the parameter of interest for a second system, comprising;

carrying out an electrochemical test step for the second system to determine at least one value for the immittance function or component thereof selected in step (i); and

using a quantitative relationship between the selected immittance function and the parameter of interest to determine a value in the parameter of interest.