Researchers invent non-enzyme sensor to detect blood sugar

Iranian researchers at University of Tehran produced a very highly sensitive sensor to measure the amount of blood sugar. The newly-invented sensor has applications in foodstuff and medical industries to measure the concentration of glucose in samples. Carbon nanotubes/iron oxide nanoparticles have been used in the production of the sensor. The sensor is non-enzyme type and it has high repeatability, stability and selectivity. In the presence of interrupting species such as ascorbic acid and uric acid, the sensor's response is exact and without interruption in determination of glucose. Taking into consideration the nature of enzymes, instability is the most common problem in the application of enzyme biosensors. Moreover, the activity of glucose oxide is easily affected by temperature, pH value, humidity, and toxic chemicals. The production of this non-enzyme biosensor resolves all these problems. The use of carbon nanotube in the production of this sensor increases electrode surface up to five times. On the other hand, changes in the surface of nanotubes by using iron oxide nanoparticles improve catalytic activity of the biosensor in the oxidation of glucose. The use of carbon nanotubes and iron oxide nanoparticles also improved electron transfer properties and increased the rate of electrochemical reaction. As a result, the electrochemical properties of the produced non-enzyme sensor have been improved. The sensor has a controlled electron transfer process with electron transfer coefficient of 0.35. Results of the research have been published in Journal of the Electrochemical Society, vol. 161, issue 1, November 2013, pp. 19-25.