Dread pricking your fingers every morning to monitor your glucose levels? Take heart, US scientists have developed the prototype of a first-of-its-kind wearable glucose monitoring device that uses sweat on skin instead of needles. A team from the Pennsylvania State University constructed the device first with laser-induced graphene (LIG) -- a material consisting of atom-thick carbon layers in various shapes. While LIG appeared to be an ideal framework for the sensing device -- it was "not sensitive to glucose at all".

The team then chose nickel because of its robust glucose sensitivity, and combined it with gold to lower potential risks of an allergic reaction. While the concentration of glucose in sweat is about 100 times less than the concentration in blood, the team's new device is sensitive enough to accurately measure the glucose in sweat and reflect the concentration in blood, revealed the paper published online in Biosensors and Bioelectronics.