Researchers at the University of Bath working in collaboration with industrial partner, Integrated Graphene, have developed a new sensing technique based on graphene foam for the detection of glucose levels in the blood. Since it is a chemical sensor instead of being enzyme-based, the new technology is robust, has a long shelf-life and can be tuned to detect lower glucose concentrations than current systems.

What is the structure of graphene and why is it special?

Graphene is a ground-breaking two-dimensional (2D) super material that possesses extraordinary electrical and mechanical properties that offer the material to a plethora of innovations and enhanced applications. The term “graphene” can be legitimately used to describe widely different forms of material depending on the context. Without any adjectives, the term “graphene” is defined by Carbon (2013) as “a single-atom-thick sheet of hexagonally arranged, sp2-bonded carbon atoms that is not an integral part of a carbon material, but is freely suspended or adhered on a foreign substrate.”