Point-of-care (POC) glucose biosensors play an important role in the management of blood sugar levels in patients with diabetes. One of the most commonly used enzymes in glucose biosensors is Glucose Oxidase (GOx). It is a biorecognition enzyme, which recognises the glucose molecule and acts as a catalyst to produce gluconic acid and hydrogen peroxide in the presence of glucose and oxygen.
Ionic liquids (ILs) have evolved as a new type of solvent for biocatalysis, mainly due to their unique and tunable physical properties.[2] Amperometric biosensors employing ILs have been reported previously, for example, ([BMIM][BF4]) has been used as a mediator in a electrochemical H2O2 biosensor[3]. This interest is driven by the need to find molecular environments in which enzymes are highly stabilized while retaining redox activity; and in which substrate transport to, and product transport from, the enzyme is not inhibited
In this work, we report the response characteristics of various enzymatic sensors (optical and electrochemical[4]) that incorporate RTIL’s as an integral part of their structure. Our results suggest that these sensing platforms can be incorporated into flexible materials such as carbon cloth and incorporated into wearable sensor platforms for monitoring important parameters related to athlete performance, and health.