A natural fibre based sustainable and high-performance platform for electrochemical sensors

Abstract

Climate change, environmental pollution, micro-plastics, and increased carbon footprints are pushing the world towards sustainable alternatives to existing and future technologies. A sustainable alternative to ceramics, metals and polymeric fibres is natural fibres. In this study, we established a novel sensing platform addressing sustainability concerns by utilizing the natural fibres of sugarcane skin. This platform, termed SugarcaneSens, is created by depositing gold onto the sugarcane skin as the substrate. The sugarcane skin plays a distinct role as both a sustainable substrate and a nano-roughened support for creating a highly electrochemically active surface over the working electrode. As test cases for SugarcaneSens, electrochemical detection of glucose in synthetic human sweat at pH 13 and Cd²⁺ in acetate buffer was conducted using these chips. Glucose could be detected without the use of enzymes in the range of 1–2000 μM. SugarcaneSens also exhibited a linear response to Cd²⁺ over a broad concentration range (1–1000 nM). To evaluate the environmental impact of SugarcaneSens, life cycle assessment (LCA) was performed. On comparing the LCA of these chips with similarly prepared ceramic and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) chips, SugarcaneSens showed the least environmental impact. This makes them the most sustainable choice for electrochemical sensing. This methodology to fabricate natural fibre based electrodes can pave the way for sustainable practices in the upcoming electrochemical sensor industry.