Rapid HER2-positive cell detection via high-voltage electroosmotic flow-driven microfluidic SPRi

• Published in: Mikrochimica acta (1966) Vol. 192; no. 8; p. 505
• Main Authors: Zhang, Xinmeng, Jiao, Yue, Yang, Taikang, Xu, Zhourui, Shao, Yonghong, Hou, Jianxun, Xu, Gaixia
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Vienna Springer Vienna 19.07.2025; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Analytical Chemistry; Antibodies, Immobilized - immunology; Biocompatibility; Cell Line, Tumor; Characterization and Evaluation of Materials; Chemistry; Chemistry and Materials Science; Electric fields; Electroosmosis; Electroosmosis - methods; Fluid flow; High voltages; Humans; Immunoassay - methods; Immunosensors; Labels; Limit of Detection; Microengineering; Microfluidic Analytical Techniques - instrumentation; Microfluidic Analytical Techniques - methods; Nanochemistry; Nanogenerators; Nanotechnology; Receptor, ErbB-2 - analysis; Receptor, ErbB-2 - immunology; Receptor, ErbB-2 - metabolism; Surface plasmon resonance; Surface Plasmon Resonance - instrumentation; Surface Plasmon Resonance - methods; Electroosmotic flow; Triboelectric nanogenerator; Liquid biopsy; Self-powered biosensor; Surface plasmon resonance imaging; Human epidermal growth factor receptor-2
• ISSN: 0026-3672; 1436-5073; 1436-5073
• DOI: 10.1007/s00604-025-07292-w

The synergy between electroosmotic flow (EOF) and surface plasmon resonance (SPR) offers a transformative approach to overcome diffusion-limited biosensing. However,  existing voltage-driven EOF systems face critical trade-offs between high-voltage requirements and biocompatibility. Here, we present a self-powered electroosmosis-enhanced SPR immunosensor that integrates a triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) with SPR imaging (SPRi) to achieve ultra-sensitive detection of HER2-positive cancer cells. By leveraging TENG-driven asymmetric alternating electric fields, the developed platform generates electroosmotic vortices that accelerate cellular transport velocity and enhance antigen–antibody binding efficiency, achieving a detection limit of 3 × 10 4 cells/mL—an order of magnitude improvement over label-free SPR methods. Remarkably, the system captures HER2-positive cells within 45 s at a high throughput of cell, the detection speed increased by 20-fold. This performance, combined with label-free operation and biocompatibility, establishes a scalable framework for liquid biopsy applications. Graphical Abstract