Fabrication of a Glucose Biosensor by Piezoelectric Inkjet Printing

Glucose oxidase (GOx) is used as an immobilized enzyme in blood glucose level sensors. Conventional single used sensors are fabricated by screen printing enzyme suspensions or pastes, or photolithography method to immobilize the enzyme onto carbon black electrodes. There is considerable interest in producing sensor structures of smaller dimensions than are readily achievable through these techniques. One technology that may be able to deliver enzyme-based sensors with smaller length scales is inkjet printing. Inkjet printing is capable of accurately placing picolitre volumes of liquids onto a substrate, making it an ideal technology that could be used within the medical sensor field. GOx solution in PBS is printed by a drop-on-demand piezoelectric printer, the retained activity of GOx before and after printing demonstrates that inkjet printing is a practical technique to fabricate cheap, small, and reproducible biosensors.