Wearable, disposable and non-enzymatic fluorescence nanosensor for monitoring sweat glucose through smartphone

Abstract

The promise of non-invasive health monitoring has fuelled the development of wearable biosensors for in situ detection of biological analytes in sweat. This paper presents a new fluorescent nanosensor probe based on boric acid functionalized and heteroatom doped carbon quantum dots (CQDs) embedded in paper-based analytical devices and integrated with a hydrophilic cotton thread-based microfluidic channel for the development of a flexible, wearable, biocompatible, and biodegradable sweat sensor for real-time measurement of sweat glucose concentration via smartphone readout. The morphological, physiochemical, compositional, crystallinity, and optical properties of nanosensors were extensively investigated. CQD particle sizes were found to be widely dispersed, ranging from 2.6 to 7.1 nm, with an average diameter of 4.38 nm. A dual response via fluorescence and colorimetric change was demonstrated for on-site sweat glucose monitoring using a smartphone camera to capture images in RGB (red, green, and blue) format and analyse them simultaneously by a customized android app, with quantitative results displayed on the smartphone. The limit of detection value for in situ measurement of sweat glucose concentration was 1.40 to 2.00 μM (25.25 to 36.13 μg/dL) and the limit of quantification value was 4.67 to 6.69 μM (84.16–120.44 μg/dL) in the pH range of 4.5 to 7.5. The developed sensor's performance metrics were validated using a standard clinical technique, which indicates strong correlation between two methods with Pearson correlation coefficient values of 0.83 and 0.80 for non-diabetic and type- II diabetes patients, respectively. Besides, interference, spike, and recovery studies were carried out with recovery rates ranging from 96.5 to 105.8 %, demonstrating good repeatability and reproducibility. Furthermore, feasible fluorescence quenching processes have been explored. In addition, the disposable and biodegradable nature of the nanosensor probe was studied by throwing it into the soil in the natural environment, where it dissolves almost spontaneously after three weeks.