Bell, Jeff

Research

Dr. Bell will join the Chemistry Department at Washington State University in August 2020. His previous research dealt with the fabrication of electrochemical sensors, paper-based diagnostic devices and low-cost, portable electrochemical workstations. Beyond this he has worked on manipulating and controlling out-of-equilibrium chemical and electrochemical oscillating reactions. This work included fundamental studies of reaction kinetics, reactive surfaces, reaction networks, reaction-diffusion and material fabrication under nonlinear conditions.

At Washington State University the objective of the Bell research group is to create effective and affordable diagnostic tools to detect and differentiate between diverse analytes and biomarkers. Healthy living is dependent on the proper function of numerous organs (i.e., brain, liver, kidney, etc.) and functional irregularities can result in serious diseases and disorders, such as Chronic Kidney, Alzheimers and Fatty Liver Disease. Determination of these irregularities, and in turn diagnosis, requires the ability to selectively quantify chemical and biological markers ranging from neurotransmitters (i.e., acetylcholine, serotonin, etc.) to liver biomarkers (i.e., bilirubin). The detection of such a wide range of biomarkers, however, represents a challenging analytical problem since they are structurally (and characteristically) very diverse (chiral, redox-inactive, redox-active, etc.). As costs associated with healthcare continue to increase, affordable, rapid and reliable techniques for diagnosis of diseases is extremely important.

A key aspect of this research is the integration—and exploitation—of magnetism with electrochemistry. To contribute to this goal the Bell research group will (i) gain fundamental knowledge of the electroanalytical processes which are influenced by magnetic fields, (ii) fabricate sensors to detect and monitor health-related biomarkers and (iii) fabricate new classes of point-of-care devices. Students will work at the boundary of analytical, physical and materials chemistry. Specifically, students will learn skills related to electrochemistry, magnetism, device fabrication, electrochemical sensors, surface processes and microfluidics.

Selected Publications

• J. G. Bell, M. P. S. Mousavi, M. K. Abd El-Rahman, E. K. W. Tan, S. Homer-Vanniasinkam, and G. M. Whitesides, “Paper-Based Potentiometric Sensing of Free Bilirubin in Blood Serum”. Biosens. Bioelectron., 126, 115-121, 2019.
• J. G. Bell, M. P. S. Mousavi, M. K. Abd El-Rahman, “Electrochemical Sensing of Carbachol in Ophthalmic Solutions”. J. Electrochem. Soc., 165, B835-B839, 2018.
• Ainla, M. P. S. Mousavi, M. N. Tsaloglou, J. Redson, J. G. Bell, M. T. Fernandez-Abedul, and G. M. Whitesides, “Open-Source Potentiostat for Wireless Electrochemical Detection with Smartphones”. Anal. Chem., 90, 6420-6426, 2018.
• J. G. Bell, M. Dao, and J. Wang, “Qualitative Dependence of the Electro-Oxidation Behavior of Sulfite on Solution pH”. J. Electroanal. Chem., 816, 1-6, 2018.
• J. G. Bell and J. Wang, “Formation of Au Nanoparticles at the Counter Electrode During the Oscillatory Oxidation of Methionine on a Gold Electrode”. J. Phys. Chem. C 121, 14731-14736, 2017.
• J. G. Bell and J. Wang, “Nonlinear Instabilities during the Electrochemical Oxidation of Hydroxymethanesulfinate”. Electrochim. Acta 222, 678-684, 2016.
• J. G. Bell and J. Wang, “Current and Potential Oscillations during the Electro-Oxidation of Bromide Ions”. J. Electroanal. Chem. 754, 133-137, 2015.