Cellulose-based laser-induced graphene devices for electrochemical monitoring of bacterial phenazine production and viability

As an easily disposable substrate with a microporous texture, paper is a well-suited, generic substrate to build analytical devices for studying bacteria. Using a multi-pass lasing process, cellulose-based laser-induced graphene (cLIG) with a sheet resistance of 43.7 ± 2.3 Ω sq-1 is developed and utilized in the fabrication of low-cost and environmentally-friendly paper-based sensor arrays. Two case studies with Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Escherichia coli demonstrate the practicality of the cLIG sensors for the electrochemical analysis of bacteria. The first study measures the time-dependent profile of phenazines, such as pyocyanin, released from both planktonic (up to 60 h) and on-chip-grown (up to 22 h) Pseudomonas aeruginosa cultures. While similarities do exist, marked differences in phenazine production are seen with cells grown directly on cLIG compared to the planktonic culture. Moreover, in planktonic cultures, pyocyanin levels increase early on and plateau around 20 h, while optical density measurements increase monotonically over the duration of testing. The second study monitors the viability and metabolic activity of Escherichia coli using a resazurin-based electrochemical assay. These results demonstrate the utility of cLIG-based sensors as an inexpensive and versatile platform for monitoring bacteria and could enable new opportunities in high-throughput antibiotic susceptibility testing, ecological studies, and biofilm studies.