MXene nanoflakes decorating ZnO tetrapods for enhanced performance of skin-attachable stretchable enzymatic electrochemical glucose sensor

Valerii Myndrul a, Emerson Coy a, Nataliya Babayevska a, Veronika Zahorodna b, Vitalii Balitskyi b, Ivan Baginskiy b, Oleksiy Gogotsi b, Mikhael Bechelany c, Maria Teresa Giardi d,e , Igor Iatsunskyi a

^a NanoBioMedical Centre, Adam Mickiewicz University, 3, Wszechnicy Piastowskiej Str., 61-614, Poznan, Poland
^b Materials Research Center, Krzhizhanovskogo street, 3, 03680, Kyiv, Ukraine
^c Institut Européendes Membranes, IEM, UMR5635, Univ Montpellier, ENSCM, CNRS, 34095, Montpellier, CEDEX5, France
^d Biosensor Srl, Via Degli Olmetti 44, 00060, Formello, Rome, Italy
^e Istituto di Cristallografia, CNR Area Della Ricerca di Roma, 00015, Monterotondo Scalo, Rome, Italy
Received 23 December 2021, Revised 24 February 2022, Accepted 27 February 2022, Available online 6 March 2022, Version of Record 14 March 2022. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bios.2022.114141

Highlights

• A skin-attachable sensor for sweat glucose monitoring based on ZnO/MXene is designed.

• ZnO TPs/MXene exhibits an enhanced catalytic activity towards glucose oxidation.

• Electrochemical sensor shows high selectivity, long-term and mechanical stabilities.

• ZnO TPs/MXene sensor provides a low limit of detection (≈17 μM) of glucose in sweat.

• Results of in vivo glucose detection correlate with data of finger-prick blood tests.

Abstract

Continuous painless glucose monitoring is the greatest desire of more than 422 million diabetics worldwide. Therefore, new non-invasive and convenient approaches to glucose monitoring are more in demand than other tests for microanalytical diagnostic tools. Besides, blood glucose detection can be replaced by continuous glucose monitoring of other human biological fluids (e.g. sweat) collected non-invasively. In this study, a skin-attachable and stretchable electrochemical enzymatic sensor based on ZnO tetrapods (TPs) and a new class of 2D materials - transition metal carbides, known as MXene, was developed and their electroanalytical behavior was tailored for continuous detection glucose in sweat. The high specific area of ZnO TPs and superior electrical conductivity of MXene (Ti3C2Tx) nanoflakes enabled to produce enzymatic electrochemical glucose biosensor with enhanced sensitivity in sweat sample (29 μA mM−1 cm−2), low limit of detection (LOD ≈ 17 μM), broad linear detection range (LDR = 0.05–0.7 mM) that satisfices glucose detection application in human sweat, and advanced mechanical stability (up to 30% stretching) of the template. The developed skin-attachable stretchable electrochemical electrodes allowed to monitor the level of glucose in sweat while sugar uptake and during physical activity. Continuous in vivo monitoring of glucose in sweat obtained during 60 min correlated well with data collected by a conventional amperometric blood glucometer in vitro mode. Our findings demonstrate the high potential of developed ZnO/MXene skin-attachable stretchable sensors for biomedical applications on a daily basis.

Keywords: MXene, ZnO tetrapods, Glucose sensor, Glucose oxidase, Sweat glucose monitoring.

Cite:

Valerii Myndrul, Emerson Coy, Nataliya Babayevska, Veronika Zahorodna, Vitalii Balitskyi, Ivan Baginskiy, Oleksiy Gogotsi, Mikhael Bechelany, Maria Teresa Giardi, Igor Iatsunskyi, MXene nanoflakes decorating ZnO tetrapods for enhanced performance of skin-attachable stretchable enzymatic electrochemical glucose sensor, Biosensors and Bioelectronics, Volume 207, 2022, 114141, ISSN 0956-5663, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bios.2022.114141.