Demonstrating the Analytical Potential of a Wearable Microneedle-Based Device for Intradermal CO2 Detection

Microneedle-Based Electrochemical Array Patch for Ultra-Antifouling and Ultra-Anti-Interference Monitoring of Subcutaneous Oxygen

Oxygen saturation is a crucial indicator in the management of various diseases and in preoperative diagnosis, and the detection of oxygen content is valuable in guiding clinical treatment. However, as the classical and dominant oxygen detection strategies, current photoelectric oximeters and electrochemical-based blood gas analyzers often suffer from significant interindividual variation and poor compliance, respectively. In recent years, wearable microneedles (MNs) for analyzing biomarkers in interstitial fluid (ISF) have received great attention and recognition mainly for the reason that the content of the substances distributed in ISF has a better correlation with that in blood circulation compared with other body fluids such as sweat and saliva. Herein, an MN-based electrochemical array system was developed for continuous subcutaneous oxygen sensing, in which gold-modified commercial acupuncture MNs were used as the sensing units, and a tailored mini-workstation, a nonwoven fabric, and a water and air isolation membrane were integrated to fabricate a wearable array patch. Notably, a multifunctional swelling resin with good biocompatibility was adopted to decorate the MN surface as a protective layer and as an electrolyte gel. The swelling resin featured the ability to reduce epidermis secretions during the sensor array penetrating the skin and to decrease the interference of other biomolecules in ISF for oxygen assay during measurement. This proposed array patch can perform the subcutaneous oxygen analysis in the physiological range of 6-150 mmHg with high sensitivity (0.3817 μA/mmHg) and low theoretical limit of detection (5.06 mmHg). It also showed decent stability and selectivity in the presence of several kinds of exogenous and endogenous substances. Finally, the patch accomplished continual monitoring of the subcutaneous oxygen content during long-term physical exercise, showing great potential in providing warning about the hypoxia status of the human body. It could be foreseen that this high-performance patch will play an active role in respiratory disease evaluation, surgical monitoring, and public health care.

Self-Powered Potentiometric Sensor with Relational Operation Function to Capture Concentration Excursions

Self-powered potentiometric sensors spontaneously respond to activity changes of target species without the need for an external power source. Here, a self-powered potentiometric sensing approach is described that may store concentration perturbations that occur before the sensor readout through a combination of capacitors and diodes. Two channels, termed "more than" and "less than" operators, are utilized as memory modules in the sensor circuit to record positive and negative concentration excursions, respectively. Each channel is constructed with a capacitor-diode pair in which each diode is connected to a capacitor in the opposite direction to prevent unwanted capacitor discharge. With this design, only potential variations that agree with the polarity of the diode may pass and be stored in the capacitor. A limitation of the principle is that the conductivity of the diode is very small if the voltage across it diminishes over time as it approaches the equilibrium value. To address this, the forward voltage is increased by about 1 V by switching from an initial Ag/AgCl reference electrode (RE) to a Zn/Zn2+ element. The device may be used to monitor whether a concentration excursion has occurred in the time leading up to the signal readout in a semiquantitative manner. The approach also differentiates pH excursions of different durations (20, 40, 60 min). As an example, four different pH excursions of 20 min duration were successfully distinguished in river water samples with amplitudes of 1 to 4 pH units relative to the case without pH perturbation.

Unveiling Potassium and Sodium Ion Dynamics in Living Plants with an In-Planta Potentiometric Microneedle Sensor

Potassium and sodium ions (K+ and Na+) play crucial roles in influencing plant growth and health status. Unfortunately, current strategies to determine the concentrations of such ions are destructive for the plants because it is necessary to collect/extract the sap for further analysis and produce either scattered or delayed results. Here, we introduce a new potentiometric dual microneedle sensor for nondestructive, real-time, and continuous monitoring of K+ and Na+ concentrations in living plants. The developed sensors show a response time <5 s, close-to-Nernstian slope (∼55 mV dec-1), resiliency to five insertions on the stem, good repeatability (max. %RSD = 0.3%) and reversibility (max. %RSD = 3%), appropriate continuous operation for 24 h, and linear range of responses that cover expected plant physiological levels (5-50 mM for Na+ and 50-120 mM for K+). Moreover, the accuracy was successfully investigated by comparing the results provided by the microneedle sensors to those obtained by a standard reference method (e.g., ion chromatography). Finally, we demonstrate that the developed analytical device is capable of tracking K+ and Na+ transportation from the hydroponic solution to the stem within 5-10 min. This research will contribute to establishing a new generation of analytical platforms for smart agriculture offering real-time information.

Nanoporous Carbon Materials as Solid Contacts for Microneedle Ion-Selective Sensors

Continuous sensing of biomarkers, such as potassium ions or pH, in wearable patches requires miniaturization of ion-selective sensor electrodes. Such miniaturization can be achieved by using nanostructured carbon materials as solid contacts in microneedle-based ion-selective and reference electrodes. Here we compare three carbon materials as solid contacts: colloid-imprinted mesoporous (CIM) carbon microparticles with ∼24-28 nm mesopores, mesoporous carbon nanospheres with 3-9 nm mesopores, and Super P carbon black nanoparticles without internal porosity but with textural mesoporosity in particle aggregates. We compare the effects of carbon architecture and composition on specific capacitance of the material, on the ability to incorporate ion-selective membrane components in the pores, and on sensor performance. Functioning K+ and H+ ion-selective electrodes and reference electrodes were obtained with gold-coated stainless-steel microneedles using all three types of carbon. The sensors gave near-Nernstian responses in clinically relevant concentration ranges, were free of potentially detrimental water layers, and showed no response to O2. They all exhibited sufficiently low long-term potential drift values to permit calibration-free, continuous operation for close to 1 day. In spite of the different specific capacitances and pore architecture of the three types of carbon, no significant difference in potential stability for K+ ion sensing was observed between electrodes that used each material. In the observed drift values, factors other than the carbon solid contact are likely to play a role, too. However, for pH sensing, electrodes with CIM as a carbon solid contact, which had the highest specific capacitance and best access to the pores, exhibited better long-term stability than electrodes with the other carbon materials.

Potassium Ion-Selective Electrodes with BME-44 Ionophores Covalently Attached to Condensation-Cured Silicone Membranes

For ion-selective electrodes (ISEs) to be employed in wearable and implantable applications, the ion-selective membrane components should be biocompatible, and leaching of components, such as plasticizer or ionophore, out of the sensing membrane should be inhibited. To achieve this, we employed a plasticizer-free silicone as the membrane matrix and synthesized as the ionophore a derivative of the bis-crown ether based potassium ionophore BME-44, incorporating a triethoxysilyl functional group that covalently attaches to condensation-cured silicones during the curing process. Soxhlet extraction of these membranes with dichloromethane shows that up to 96% of the ionophore is attached to the silicone membrane during curing. We found that the covalently attachable BME-44 derivative can inadvertently adsorb onto high surface area carbon solid contacts before attaching to the silicone matrix if the curing of the silicone is performed in the presence of the high surface area carbon, resulting in depletion of ionophore from the membrane and yielding solid-contact ISEs with poor selectivity. In contrast, we observed Nernstian responses to K+ in plasticizer-free silicone-based K+ ISMs with either mobile BME-44 or the covalently attachable BME-44 derivative when the membranes were prepared on octane-thiol coated gold electrodes, where ionophore adsorption does not occur to a noticeable extent. As compared with ISMs doped with the mobile BME-44, ISMs prepared with the covalently attachable BME-44 derivative have better selectivity for K+ vs Na+ (log ⁡ K K + , N a + values of -3.54 and <- 4.05 for mobile and covalently attachable BME-44, respectively) and lower resistance. This can be explained by a more homogeneous incorporation of the covalently attachable BME-44 derivative into the silicone matrix than is the case for the mobile BME-44.