Advancing Diabetes Care with Cobalt Imidazolate Metal–Organic Framework-Based Diaper-Integrated, Self-Powered Urinary Glucose Biosensor

The quest to develop noninvasive sensors for glucose monitoring is crucial because they offer a pain-free, convenient alternative to traditional blood glucose testing, potentially improving patients’ quality of life. Most electrochemical sensors developed for urine glucose monitoring are based on a three-electrode system and require a power source and a potentiostat. As these systems are bulky and cumbersome, the development of self-powered sensors has taken center stage due to their simple design. Here, we report a screen-printed, self-powered biosensing system based on biofuel cells. The bioanode was constructed from 1,4-naphthalquinone and glucose oxidase immobilized on a cobalt imidazole metal–organic framework, and the cathode was modified with manganese oxide nanowire-decorated reduced graphene oxide. Agarose gel is coated to protect the electrode from mechanical damage and acts as a fluid sampling platform. The diaper-based self-powered sensor enables seamless noninvasive glucose monitoring for patients with urinary inconsistency. The proposed sensor is connected to a Bluetooth-enabled printed circuit board to remotely record changes in the current. The sensor is found to detect glucose in artificial urine in the concentration ranges of 0 to 8 mM with a sensitivity of 1.44 μA mM–1 and a limit of detection of 0.54 mM. The sensor showed good correlation between urinary and serum glucose levels for six volunteers with a Pearson correlation coefficient of 0.9933. Such a self-powered biosensing system integrated into a diaper shows significant potential as a simple, affordable monitoring solution for real-time diabetes management.