Classification and Application of Electroactive Poly-Amidoamine Polymer (EPOP) for Use in Glucose Sensors

Research concerning increased sensitivity and accurate glucose sensors have been on the forefront of diabetes mellitus. In this study, Electroactive Poly-Amidoamine Polymer (EPOP) was studied to determine if it can be used as a biocompatible electrode, with known redox mediators to determine if it can transfer its own electrons or amplify signal, and if signal is amplified when using an Ag/AgCl working electrode. From the results, it was determined that EPOP is neither a redox mediator, since it cannot transfer its own electrons, nor an electron mediator, since it does not amplify measured current at a specific voltage. Rather, it behaves as an electron sink capacitor with inconsistent behavior when Ag/AgCl is used as the working electrode with the redox mediator alone or with the redox mediator using in combination with glucose oxidase (GOx) and glucose. This was validated using AC-Impedance which gave a -3.3999 slope for isolated 0.05 g/mL EPOP in solution and R2 value of 0.992 displaying it had more capacitor-like behavior compared to resistor-like behavior. For this reason, EPOP was infused into a carbon screen-printed electrode by adding it dissolved and undissolved at two levels into carbon ink. The effectiveness of this electrode was tested using a potentiostatic CV. For the 0.1 g/mL EPOP dissolved in carbon ink, the reduction voltage peak (0.18 V) was found to be slightly higher than a GDE (0.14 V); however, the measured current was found to be 1.57 times the amplitude of a GDE. When 0.05 g/mL EPOP in PBS dissolved in graphite ink was used to detect glucose as the working electrode, there was increased signal amplification, and therefore, increased sensitivity to glucose when using EPOP infused electrodes. This offers promising results for disposable glucose sensors.