Paper-Based Electrochemical Sensors and How to Make Them (Work)

Paper-based devices are said to be easy to make and use. It is true, if you know how. We hope this Review will help people that are new to the field but also those more experienced who want to add some new functionalities to their systems. Tips and common pitfalls are provided in each section as well as references to recommended reading material. Paper devices have been in development for around two millennia, in one form or the other, and ingenious solutions can be borrowed from the world of paper toys, or closer to electrochemistry paper electronics developed from the 1960' onwards. Small projects on such systems can become a good practice even in laboratories not working on disposable sensors and low-cost diagnostics as paper-based devices are a great way to introduce new students to lab work and teach problem solving. We would also like to show that paper indeed has real life applications and is more than just a good keyword but with the number of publications on the topic, it might not always be easy to distinguish the advances from the background noise.