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A wearable micro-fuel cell sensor for the determination of blood alcohol content (BAC): a multivariate regression model approach

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Abstract

A proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell-based wearable alcohol sensing device has been explored for the monitoring of blood alcohol content (BAC) in real time. The watch-like alcohol monitoring device detects alcohol from the perspiration of the human skin. This transcutaneous (transdermal) fuel cell sensor can detect a wide range of concentrations of alcohol, including a physiological range of concentration (5–100 mg/dl), with the detection time of ~ 5 s. A calibration model, such as principal component regression (PCR), was implemented to reduce standard errors and refine the calibration of this sensor by offsetting noise. The BAC values from the transcutaneous sensor were closer to the theoretical values, with 77.47% improvement in accuracy compared to readings from off the shelf breathalyzer. The results from human studies demonstrate that this fuel cell sensing device in accompany with the proposed PCR model can be employed for the determination of BAC through transcutaneous measurements.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the NSF Innovation Corps award number 1616196 and the Center for Advanced Self-Powered Systems of Integrated Sensors and Technologies (ASSIST) under the National Science Foundation (NSF) ERC award number EEC – 1160483.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, School of Electrical, Computer and Enterprise Engineering, Florida International University, Miami, FL, 33174, USA

    Ahmed Hasnain Jalal & Shekhar Bhansali

  2. Biomolecular Sciences Institute, Florida International University, Miami, FL, 33174, USA

    Yogeswaran Umasankar

  3. Department of Anesthesiology, Miller School of Medicine, University of Miami, Miami, FL, 33136, USA

    Ernesto A. Pretto Jr.

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  1. Ahmed Hasnain Jalal
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  2. Yogeswaran Umasankar
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  3. Ernesto A. Pretto Jr.
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  4. Shekhar Bhansali
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Correspondence to Shekhar Bhansali.

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Jalal, A.H., Umasankar, Y., Pretto, E.A. et al. A wearable micro-fuel cell sensor for the determination of blood alcohol content (BAC): a multivariate regression model approach. ISSS J Micro Smart Syst 9, 131–142 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41683-020-00059-w

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s41683-020-00059-w

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