Researchers at IIT-Kgp Develop a Tiny Blood pH Sensor

A small device has been developed by researchers at Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur to measure pH of any solution and it is also used to measure pH of blood. Through this device, the pH factor of blood is measured potentiometrically, and the device helps by measuring the impedance too. The device has managed to find the satisfactory pH sensitivity in the physiological pH range.

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There are various conventional arterial blood sampling devices which use three electrodes which can be considered as a time-consuming process. The device developed by researchers at IIT-Kgp entirely relies on venous blood sampling for the purpose of pH measurement.

Prof. Soumen Das, one of the researchers, explained that initially the aluminum electrode would be deposited on a glass substrate by the device and will be made into two electrodes with minimum gap by manually removing a tiny portion of aluminum. Nafion and molybdenum disulfide nanoparticles will be used to cover electrodes in a small region around the gap between the two. Hence, pH measurement is done only using a small amount of analyte.

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The specialty of the device is that it would measure the pH of the blood in ten seconds. The device is more active and accurate than the commercial pH sensors which take 30-40 seconds to respond. In simple terms, the time taken by the device developed by IIT-Kgp is lesser than the time taken by the blood to clot.

Prof. Soumen Das further clarified that the device would be used to conduct a number of tests so that it could be validated.