Realizing the Potential of Commercial E-Textiles for Wearable Glucose Biosensing Application

Abstract

Advancements in wearable technology have enabled noninvasive health monitoring using biosensors. This research focuses on developing a textile-based sweat glucose sensor using commercially available conductive textiles, evading the complexity of traditional fabrication methods. A comparative analysis of three low-cost conductive textiles, Adafruit 1364, 1167, and 4762, has been conducted for electrochemical glucose detection with glucose-specific enzymes such as glucose oxidase (GOx) and glucose dehydrogenase (GDH). Adafruit 1364 outperformed others in morphological, electrochemical, and wearable properties. Cyclic voltammetry shows that Adafruit 1364 and 4762 effectively detect glucose at the potential of 0.23 and 0.08 V using glucose oxidase and 0.1 and 0.08 V using glucose dehydrogenase enzymes, respectively. Furthermore, chronoamperometry has been conducted to confirm the presence of glucose at 1 μM concentration. Differential pulse voltammetry was conducted to assess the sensitivity of the Adafruit 1364 fabric electrode using glucose solutions with concentrations of 0.05, 0.15, 0.25, and 0.5 mM. The electrode immobilized with GOx showed a sensitivity of 0.005 μA μM⁻¹ and a limit of detection (LOD) of 41.3 μM, while the electrode immobilized with GDH exhibited a sensitivity of 0.0019 μA μM⁻¹ and an LOD of 63.1 μM. The study also highlighted the reproducibility, effect of interferents, and advantageous wearable properties of these sensors.