Electrochemical sensing is undergoing a quiet but decisive transformation, and the materials doing the work are no longer silicon, glass or metal. A new Perspective published in the journal Biosensors and Biomolecular Electronics argues that paper and soft polymeric materials have moved from being simple supports for printed electrodes to becoming active, functional platforms that govern how a sensor handles fluids, stores reagents, interfaces with skin and tissue, and ultimately reaches the point of care. The article, authored by Ada Raucci, Jonatas de Oliveira S. Silva, Sima Singh, Michelino De Laurentiis and Stefano Cinti, was published on 1 July 2026 as an open-access paper in the first volume of the journal.
The traditional rigid electrochemical sensor, typically manufactured from metals, silicon or glass through costly cleanroom processes, faces persistent limitations in point-of-care settings: high cost, mechanical rigidity and poor biocompatibility. The authors argue that the growing demand for detection and monitoring outside the laboratory, particularly in resource-limited settings, requires a radical rethinking of sensor design. In their view, two breakthroughs have fundamentally reshaped the field. The first is microfluidics on paper, which exploits the natural capillary movement of cellulose fibers to move liquids without pumps. The second is the arrival of soft materials that are flexible and biocompatible, such as hydrogels, polymer films and conductive polymers. The convergence of these two strands, they write, enables a new category of wearable and implantable sensors capable of operating continuously within physiological systems and providing real-time data about the conditions that define health outcomes.
The modern era of paper-based electrochemical devices began with landmark work by Whitesides and collaborators in 2009 and 2010, which integrated screen-printed electrodes with microfluidic paper-based electrochemical devices. That methodology produced disposable, portable platforms combining capillary-driven flow with electrochemical detection. Later innovations in origami-based strategies allowed three-dimensional designs in which folding the device can incorporate sample pretreatment, flow control and signal processing into a single construct. Yet early microfluidic systems were still predominantly built on rigid materials, which restricted their integration into wearable or implantable formats. That gap opened the door to a second wave of innovation centered on soft materials, including polydimethyl siloxane, polyaniline and PEDOT:PSS, which brought flexibility, biocompatibility and easier integration into biological systems.
What makes the Perspective distinctive is its materials-centered framing. Rather than cataloguing devices, the authors link specific substrate properties to fluid handling, analytical figures of merit and deployment-relevant robustness. Cellulose paper, they note, has progressed from a low-cost support to a genuinely functional material: its fibrous three-dimensional network, porosity and surface chemistry jointly govern fluid handling and interfacial phenomena. Micro- and nanoscale channels within the paper matrix sustain spontaneous capillary flow, eliminating external pumps, while the substrate can be cut, folded, stacked and chemically modified to host redox mediators, nanomaterials and biomolecules. Manufacturing remains deliberately simple, with wax printing, screen printing, laser cutting and origami approaches defining channels and reaction zones. Screen and flexographic printing and other roll-to-roll-amenable processes are regarded as the most scalable options for mass production, whereas techniques such as wax printing, laser pyrolysis and photolithographic polymerization remain largely confined to laboratory-scale fabrication.
Recent demonstrations show how these material attributes translate into analytical performance. Miglione and colleagues developed a two-dimensional paper-based platform for detecting paracetamol in wastewater, in which the porous cellulose substrate simultaneously manages sample wicking, on-paper preconcentration and electrochemical readout, allowing direct loading of real wastewater with minimal handling. Thueankhum and colleagues reported a paper-based fast-flow electrochemical device that integrates a plastic hollow channel with a wax-printed paper channel, accelerating liquid transport and enabling rapid solution exchange and multiple detections on one device without external power. Coupled with a copper phthalocyanine-modified screen-printed graphene electrode, the platform achieved a limit of detection of 3.75 micromolar and a limit of quantification of 12.5 micromolar for NADPH, and was demonstrated in assessing glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency, where NADPH monitoring differentiates healthy versus deficient enzyme variants.
Multiplexing on paper has also matured. Gutierrez-Capitan and colleagues built a point-of-care paper-microfluidic device in which a multichannel paper component aligns with an on-chip electrochemical cell array, while magnetic nanoparticles and strategically placed neodymium magnets concentrate immuno-complexes upstream of the working electrodes. The chronoamperometric readout, using ferrocene methanol as mediator, reports both horseradish peroxidase labels and myeloperoxidase activity, with analytical signals taken at 1.6 seconds and an overall protocol of roughly 75 minutes. The device reports calibration ranges for interleukin-8, tumor necrosis factor alpha and myeloperoxidase, detection limits of 420 picograms per milliliter, 174 picograms per milliliter and 116 nanograms per milliliter respectively, and it discriminates healthy versus chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patient sputum extracts. Separately, Chaiyo and colleagues pushed paper electroanalysis toward instrument-free use by pairing a three-dimensional origami device with a battery-less near-field communication potentiostat powered by a smartphone, achieving nonenzymatic cholesterol detection with a linear range of 1 to 500 micromolar and a detection limit of 0.3 micromolar, validated in real human serum against a commercial meter. Kalligosfyri and Cinti, meanwhile, introduced a programmable three-dimensional origami platform in which sequential folding reconfigures channels to achieve controlled, multifold preconcentration of analytes before detection.
Soft materials tell a parallel story of substrates becoming active components. Polymeric platforms now take the form of membranes, films and microneedles, fabricated through casting, electrospinning, blow spinning and three-dimensional printing. A striking example is the Janus membrane reported by Li and colleagues for on-body glucose detection in sweat. Produced by electrospinning, the membrane has a hydrophobic polyurethane side and a hydrophilic poly(vinyl alcohol) side, creating a wettability gradient that drives directional moisture transport, promotes efficient sweat uptake and keeps the skin dry while preventing electrode fouling. Under optimized conditions the sensor exhibited a sensitivity of 0.33 microamperes per micromolar per square centimeter and a detection limit of 13 micromolar, preserving almost 97 percent of its initial current response after one week of storage at 4 degrees Celsius. Nature itself has joined the materials toolbox: Germinare and colleagues used carbon dioxide laser pyrolysis to transform green leaves of Swietenia macrophylla into conductive, porous carbon electrodes for detecting the pesticide carbendazim, achieving a detection limit of 0.1 micromolar, near-complete biodegradation within 36 days under natural environmental conditions, a relative standard deviation of roughly 3 percent, and successful application to fruit juice and honey.
Three-dimensional printing adds another dimension. Parrilla and colleagues developed a hollow microneedle array for plant health monitoring, capable of both passive and active fluid extraction, which profiled five plant species and detected glucose, hydrogen peroxide and pH within leaf tissues. Such platforms point toward minimally invasive sampling in humans and plants alike. Yet the authors are candid about the obstacles. Hydrogels, elastomers and fibrous polymer membranes can swell, dehydrate, creep and fatigue under repeated deformation, gradually altering the electrode-electrolyte interface and shifting calibration during continuous use. The long-term biocompatibility of microneedle substrates, the nature of degradation products and mechanical matching with tissues remain only partially characterized over application-relevant time scales. Soft, porous substrates also promote biofouling and nonspecific adsorption of proteins and cells, and integrating soft substrates with rigid electronics remains a weak point, since mechanical mismatches can cause adhesion failure under normal body motion.
Paper faces its own hurdles. The intrinsic variability of cellulose papers in porosity, thickness, sizing agents and surface chemistry affects capillary flow, reagent retention and electrochemical background signals, complicating device-to-device and batch-to-batch reproducibility. Pre-loaded reagents degrade with humidity and temperature over shelf-life, and printed electrodes and barrier patterns must be controlled so they do not obstruct wicking or delaminate under bending. The authors call for purpose-designed, electroanalytical-grade cellulose and industrial printing workflows tailored to paper microfluidics rather than repurposing generic chromatographic or filter papers. Looking ahead, they outline five priorities: extending shelf-life through protective coatings and encapsulation, integrating artificial intelligence for predictive analytics and data fusion, standardizing manufacturing and harmonizing regulatory frameworks, keeping sustainability central through biodegradable materials and renewable feedstocks, and leveraging applications from environmental surveillance to precision agriculture and pandemic response. The next decade, they conclude, will be vital for translating these laboratory-developed technologies into practical, globally accessible solutions for health and environmental monitoring.
Subject of Research: The use of paper-based and soft polymeric materials as active platforms in electrochemical sensor development
Article Title: Paper-based and soft materials to advance electrochemical sensors
Article References: Raucci, A., de Oliveira S. Silva, J., Singh, S., De Laurentiis, M., & Cinti, S. (2026). Paper-based and soft materials to advance electrochemical sensors. Biosensors and Biomolecular Electronics, 1(1), Article 6. https://doi.org/10.1186/s44510-026-00006-3
Image Credits: AI Generated
DOI: 10.1186/s44510-026-00006-3
Keywords: electrochemical sensors, paper-based sensors, microfluidics, soft materials, wearable sensors, point-of-care diagnostics, cellulose, hydrogels, microneedles, biosensors, Janus membranes, biodegradable materials
News Source: Gregory Coleman. (October 28, 2026). Paper and soft materials reshape the future of electrochemical sensors. Scienmag.
