Biosensing measurement of glucose: comparing a potentiostat and a source measure unit for signal generation

Over the past several decades since the invention of the first biosensor based on the Clark-oxygen electrode for glucose, the instrument most used for measuring for biosensor devices has been the potentiostat, and there have been thousands of published papers on electrochemical biosensors using the potentiostat. Here, we show for the first time a comparison between a potentiostat and a source measure unit (SMU) for signal generation in a biosensing measurement of glucose. The results demonstrated that both a potentiostat and a SMU could provide excellent sensing performances, though the results were slightly difference. We expect that this work can open up exciting opportunities for fundamental studies on the measurement methods of biosensing devices, as well as for a variety of applications for using biosensing devices in healthcare, environmental monitoring, and defense.