Stability improvement for dried droplet pretreatment by suppression of coffee ring effect using electrochemical anodized nanoporous tin dioxide substrate

A novel nanoporous analytical platform is reported to improve the stability of the dried droplet method (DDM). This nanoporous platform was made of tin dioxide (Np SnO₂) substrate by electrochemical anodization from tin (Sn) slide. The DDM is a widely used sample pretreatment in analytical chemistry that involves placing a droplet of solution onto the substrate and drying for analytical testing. However, during the droplet drying process, the solutes would converge at the droplet edge and cause inhomogeneous solutes distribution. This is the coffee ring effect (CRE). The Np SnO₂ has irregular nanopores, which allows droplet solutions to penetrate into the substrate rather than spreading out, effectively suppressing CRE. Theoretical models were built to explain the formation of CRE on blank tin (Sn) substrate and suppression of CRE on Np SnO₂. Better results were obtained in detecting lithium (Li) using the Np SnO₂ by laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS). The line scanning results indicated that the Li emission line (670.8 nm) intensities on Np SnO₂ substrate had lower relative standard deviation (RSD = 3.3%) than those on Sn substrate (RSD = 31.5%), which illustrate suppression of CRE and stability improvement on Np SnO₂ substrate. Furthermore, Li calibration curves were built for LIBS with DDM. The curve using Np SnO2 substrate had better linearity (R² = 0.997), higher precision (RSD = 4.2%), and higher sensitivity (LOD = 0.13 mg/L) than that by Sn substrate (R² = 0.954, RSD = 17%, and LOD = 1.21 mg/L). All in all, the anodic Np SnO₂ substrate can suppress CRE in DDM and hence improve the stability and precision of subsequent analysis. Graphical abstract.