Highly stable integration of graphene Hall sensors on a microfluidic platform for magnetic sensing in whole blood

The detection and analysis of rare cells in complex media such as blood is increasingly important in biomedical research and clinical diagnostics. Micro-Hall detectors (µHD) for magnetic detection in blood have previously demonstrated ultrahigh sensitivity to rare cells. This sensitivity originates from the minimal magnetic background in blood, obviating cumbersome and detrimental sample preparation. However, the translation of this technology to clinical applications has been limited by inherently low throughput (<1 mL/h), susceptibility to clogging, and incompatibility with commercial CMOS foundry processing. To help overcome these challenges, we have developed CMOS-compatible graphene Hall sensors for integration with PDMS microfluidics for magnetic sensing in blood. We demonstrate that these graphene µHDs can match the performance of the best published µHDs, can be passivated for robust use with whole blood, and can be integrated with microfluidics and sensing electronics for in-flow detection of magnetic beads. We show a proof-of-concept validation of our system on a silicon substrate and detect magnetic agarose beads, as a model for cells, demonstrating promise for future integration in clinical applications with a custom CMOS chip.

Nishal Shah, Vasant Iyer, Zhiping Zhang, Zhaoli Gao, Juhwan Park, Venkata Yelleswarapu, Firooz Aflatouni, A. T. Charlie Johnson, David Issadore