Fast, Small Volume Blood Diagnostics using Homogeneous Thin Solid Films of µL-sized Drops on Super-Hydrophilic Coatings - Impact of Film Properties on Test Accuracy*

Blood diagnostic tests require ~7 mL of blood, taking hours for results. Repeated testing can cause Hospital-Acquired Anemia. Accurate blood testing methods with smaller blood volumes and shorter analysis time are needed.
µL-sized blood drops can be rapidly solidified via Super- and Hyper-Hydrophilic HemaDrop™ coatings to yield reproducible Homogeneous Thin Solid Films (HTSFs). HTSFs are investigated for accuracy in measuring electrolytes and heavy metals. Calibration using Balanced Saline Solution allows for conversion of atomic % into concentration in mg/dL, the main metric in blood diagnostics.
Compositions from Ion Beam Analysis, X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy, and X-ray Fluorescence are compared at different depths and establish a minimum film homogeneity, volume and surface area to measure blood composition reproducibly and accurately. Relative error analysis shows that reproducibility to <10% can be attained. The damage curve method extracts elemental composition while accounting for possible IBA damage, which is found to be negligible.
Blood HTSFs formed via HemaDropTM coatings can make accurate solid state analysis of µl blood composition possible.