In the realm of biosensing technologies, a significant stride has been made by a team led by Jack Twiddy, a researcher at the Lampe Joint Department of Biomedical Engineering, North Carolina State University and University of North Carolina Chapel Hill. The team has developed a novel electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) analog frontend (AFE) that could revolutionize mobile biosensing applications, with substantial implications for the energy sector.
Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy is a powerful technique that allows for label-free detection of analytes, making it highly valuable in medical diagnostics and environmental monitoring. However, the lack of small, low-cost, and energy-efficient mobile devices for impedance measurement has hindered its widespread adoption. Twiddy and his team have tackled this challenge head-on.
Their innovative AFE encodes impedance magnitude and phase as DC potentials, optimizing it to minimize energy expenditure, size, computational overhead, and design complexity. “Our AFE enables accurate acquisition of impedance data with considerable power and cost savings relative to similar devices,” Twiddy explains. This breakthrough could pave the way for more efficient and cost-effective biosensing technologies.
The team’s AFE is particularly noteworthy for its energy efficiency, consuming less than 21 μJ per point at 10 kHz, and its compact size, with the detector circuits occupying less than 91 mm². These features make it highly suitable for edge sensing applications, such as single-frequency EIS. The researchers also demonstrated the successful use of their AFE in EIS sensing with dummy cells and a synthetic tissue analog saturated with artificial sweat, showcasing its versatility and potential for real-world applications.
The implications of this research extend beyond the immediate field of biosensing. In the energy sector, for instance, efficient and portable sensing technologies can play a crucial role in monitoring and maintaining energy infrastructure. “The modular expansion of the system facilitates EIS sensing in a variety of mobile sensing applications,” Twiddy notes, hinting at the broad applicability of their technology.
The team’s findings were recently published in the journal ‘ECS Sensors Plus’, which translates to ‘ECS Sensors Plus’ in English. This research not only advances the field of biosensing but also opens up new avenues for innovation in related industries. As we look to the future, the work of Twiddy and his colleagues could shape the development of more efficient, cost-effective, and versatile sensing technologies, ultimately benefiting a wide range of sectors, including the energy industry.