Fabrication of a novel, real-time, in-situ, non-invasive, passive, conducting polymer, bio-electronic sensor for blood electrolyte measurement

Because of the need to quickly and easily measure the blood electrolyte levels of patients, triathletes, military personnel, and health-conscious people, this bio-electronic sensor was developed. Centred on a conducting polymer, a capacitor-structured device composed of two electrodes separated by insulator was designed and fabricated. One electrode is simple, a metal. The other electrode is compound composed of _________. The impedance output of the device is 12.5x lower than an off the- shelf voltmeter thus the need for a high impedance voltmeter (as required by other potentiometric sensors) is eliminated and more importantly enables the device to be interfaced to microcontrollers and cell phones. The output of the sensor as tested ranged from 0.0 mV to more than 1000 mv, an increase in output by a magnitude of order 5 over previous potentiometric sensors (of other applications). Clinical tests show a high degree of correlation of the sensors output to actual blood K+ levels (r = +0.82), a moderate correlation to blood Na+ levels (r = +0.51 ), and a very high correlation to % blood electrolyte levels (r = +0.90). The sensor gives the output in real time, measures right where the person is (in-situ), requires no blood extraction (non-invasive), requires no external power source (passive), may be reused, and can be refreshed. It is the hope that this device will help save lives