Integration of interstitial fluid extraction and glucose detection in one device for wearable non-invasive blood glucose sensors

Abstract

Wearable non-invasive glucose sensors that can provide human a painless and portable means to monitor their blood glucose and manage their health condition draw great attentions, recently. Non-invasive human glucose sensors by detecting glucose in interstitial fluid (ISF) extracted through a reverse iontophoresis (RI) approach have been widely investigated, but the current challenges are their complex structure and instability for continuous monitor. Herein, we demonstrate a simple two-electrode non-invasive blood glucose sensor, which is fabricated by using graphene/carbon nanotubes/glucose oxidase composite textile and graphene/carbon nanotube/silver/silver chloride composite textile as the working electrode and counter electrode, respectively. By using one single device, extraction of ISF through RI process is firstly conducted by loading a certain electric current between two electrodes, then the glucose concentration in the ISF is detected through an amperometric approach by using the same two electrodes. The feasibility of these non-invasive glucose sensors is validated on porcine skin, nude mice and human. The blood glucose concentration calculated according to the response currents of the two-electrode sensors is highly consistent with that measured by commercial glucose meter. Furthermore, the used textile-like electrodes provide the non-invasive blood glucose sensors with excellent flexible and wearable properties, which make them promising to be integrated with other electronic units for monitor and management of human health.