Design, fabrication, and characterization of a polymer-based waveguide Bragg grating for blood glucose monitoring

A waveguide Bragg grating (WBG) can facilitate an adaptable method for glucose monitoring according to the optical properties of polymer materials. We propose the design and fabrication of a WBG for glucose monitoring. By exploiting glucose oxidase as the upper cladding, polydimethylsiloxane was used as the substrate, and polymethyl methacrylate was used as the core layer. We investigated the effects of the diffraction order, waveguide structure, and grating period on the reflected spectrum of the WBG. Finally, process reproducibility after long-term storage and the capability to eliminate background solution interference (to achieve more specific glucose detection) were evaluated. The experimental results showed that when the glucose concentration was in the range of [0, 3.6] mg/ml, as the glucose concentration increased, the wavelength decreased approximately linearly, with a sensitivity of approximately 242.9 pm/(mg/ml) in the range of 0–2.7 mg/ml, while maintaining good selectivity and stability. The WBG for glucose monitoring has the advantages of a large measurement range and high sensitivity. This approach facilitates the application potential of such polymer material-based WBG photonic sensors in wearable technology and realizes the measurement of human blood glucose.