Graphene-based fully integrated portable nanosensing system for on-line detection of cytokine biomarkers in saliva

Saliva has been reported to contain various cytokine biomarkers which are associated with some severe diseases such as cancers. Non-invasive saliva diagnosis using wearable or portable devices may pave a new avenue for monitoring conditions of the high risk population. Here, a graphene-based fully integrated portable nanosensing system, the entire size of which is smaller than a smart-phone and can be handheld, is presented for on-line detection of cytokine biomarkers in saliva. This miniaturized system employs an aptameric graphene-based field effect transistor (GFET) using a buried-gate geometry with HfO2 as the dielectric layer and on-line signal processing circuits to realize the transduction and processing of signals which reflect cytokine concentrations. The signal can be wirelessly transmitted to a smart-phone or cloud sever through the Wi-Fi connection for visualizing the trend of the cytokine concentration change. Interleukin-6 (IL-6) is used as a representative to examine the sensing capability of the system. Experimental results demonstrate that the nanosensing system responds to the change of IL-6 concentration within 400s in saliva with a detection limit down to 12 pM. Therefore, this portable system offers the practicality to be potentially used for non-invasive saliva diagnosis of diseases at early stage. •First demonstration of a graphene-based portable nanosensing system for wireless on-line detection of cytokines.•First demonstration of detecting cytokines in saliva using a graphene-based nanosensor.•Employing a high permittivity HfO2 dielectric layer in the buried-gate GFET to avoid high operating gate voltages.