A Smart Hydrogel-Based Sensing Platform for Catheter Applications

Smart hydrogels offer great potential as sensing elements for biomedical analyte monitoring due to their easily achievable biocompatibility and tunable stimulus sensitivity. Potential applications as biosensors require the development of suitable swelling state transduction concepts. Here, such a concept is presented that links the hydrogel's volume change with a change in transferred electromagnetic energy between two transducer parts via deformation. Thereby, the spacing and orientation of two thin films with an embedded metal strip line is altered by the sandwiched smart hydrogel. This working principle is not dependent on the specific type of hydrogel or analyte, making it a potential platform technology for various sensing applications. Additionally, its small size allows for integration into (micro)catheters. The transducer design itself is very versatile and its fabrication is based on established microstructuring techniques. This allows for easy customization to suit specific sensing purposes and space requirements.