PEDOT: PSS-PVA-based vertical organic electrochemical transistors for ultrasensitive glucose detection in sweat samples

This work reports a high-performance vertical organic electrochemical transistor (vOECT) for ultrasensitive sweat glucose monitoring via synergistic molecular and device engineering. The sensor integrates a hydrogen-bonded PEDOT:PSS-PVA channel, enabling record-high transconductance g m (102.5 mS) through enhanced phase separation and charge mobility, and a catalytic gate electrode with Prussian blue/chitosan/graphene/glucose oxidase multilayers for enzymatic signal amplification. It exhibits unprecedented sensitivity of 6.45 mA/dec in artificial sweat (over 5-fold higher than prior OECT-based glucose sensors), robust flexibility with >95% current retention at 1.5-cm bending radius, and a wide detection range (1 μM–5 mM) covering physiological sweat glucose levels with 95.5% accuracy in human trials. Validated in a wearable patch with wireless data transmission, this platform shows significant potential for non-invasive diabetes management, establishing a versatile material-device co-design strategy for multiplexed biomarker detection in personalized healthcare.