Bubble-wrap blisters serve as tiny test tubes

Researchers from Harvard University have found that the blisters on bubble wrap can be used as a sheet of small, test-tube-like containers for the analysis of medical and environmental samples. Writing in the American Chemical Society journal Analytical Chemistry, the authors explained that the material would be particularly advantageous in resource-limited areas.

“The bubbles are transparent in the visible range of the spectrum, and can be used as ‘cuvettes’ for absorbance and fluorescence measurements,” the researchers said. “The interiors of these bubbles are sterile and allow storage of samples without the need for expensive sterilisation equipment. The bubbles are also permeable to gases, and can be used to culture and store microorganisms. By incorporating carbon electrodes, these bubbles can be used as electrochemical cells.”

Additionally, the material is inexpensive, flexible, available almost everywhere around the world, easily disposed of by burning and doesn’t generate sharp edges when broken. The disadvantage, the authors said, is that the samples have to be handled carefully.

Bubble wrap can serve as an inexpensive alternative to full-size test tubes. Credit: American Chemical Society.

The team injected liquids into the air-filled pockets of bubble wrap with syringes and sealed the holes with nail hardener, before running anaemia and diabetes tests on the liquids. They also successfully grew microbes such as E. coli in the blisters, which is important for detecting contamination in water samples.

“The bubbles of bubble wrap, therefore, can be used for storing samples and performing analytical assays, a function that has the potential to be especially beneficial in resource-limited regions and in very cost-sensitive applications,” the researchers said.

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