Researchers demonstrate non-invasive glucose monitoring device

Allotrope of carbon, graphene has since long known for the number of applications. The miracle material has a single of atoms and has a lot of potential. Now the material could be used by people to help them monitor blood sugar levels without the need of any needles or collecting blood. There will just be a sensor that will be embedded under skin. A wearable, non-invasive and low cost device has been made by a team of researchers from Penn State that will be able to measure the blood glucose levels through the sweat on the skin.

The actual component of the device is graphene which is laser-induced (LIG). The layers of graphene in a number of shapes can be made in seconds. This happens due to its feature to conduct electricity. While the device is an excellent sensing device, it works only up to a point. Graphene is not sensitive to glucose, so the researchers needed something that was. This is when they selected nickel as it is highly sensitive and mixed it with gold that is unreactive that helps to reduce the possibility of any allergic reaction.

The researchers were aware that the amount of glucose in sweat is much higher that when it found in blood. But nickel gold alloy is sensitive enough that helps to measure the correlation between the gold concentration and what is excreted in sweat. It needs an alkaline solution to make it work and it is also important to keep the risk of damage to the skin to zero. For this they have a way for the sweat to enter in to the device without the need for the skin to have to deal with it.

The device was demonstrated by attaching the device to the arm of a person one hour and three hours after the meal. The person was asked to perform a brief workout and the device showed the reading that was compared to the commercially available glucose monitors.

Photo Credits: Printed Electronics World