SBIR Phase II: Wearable Nanoelectronic Vapor Sensors for Transdermal Alcohol Monitoring

这个项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是通过向普通民众提供可穿戴的酒精监测设备，这将导致对酒精消费的更好认识，并最终增强健康，延长寿命，减轻疾病和残疾的负担。不小心饮酒会导致健康和社会问题，随着时间的推移，这些问题要么因长期饮酒而表现出来(如心脏病、癌症、肝病、糖尿病等)，要么是急性醉酒和/或决策障碍的短期影响(如机动车相撞、暴力等)。从2006年到2010年，过量饮酒每年导致美国约88,000人死亡，仅2006年一年就给经济造成了约2,240亿美元的损失。鉴于上述社会影响，拟议的基于石墨烯的可穿戴酒精监测设备解决了实施健康方法的迫切需要，以减少因过度饮酒而造成的生命损失和巨大的经济成本。事实上，到2018年，可穿戴式生物传感器的市场规模估计为190亿美元，这突显了对个性化医疗保健日益增长的需求，这也表明了自我监控酒精传感器的潜在商业机会。这个小型企业创新研究(SBIR)第二阶段项目解决了对用于实时自我监控酒精消费的小型、轻型、低调、方便使用的酒精传感器的未得到满足的需求。在美国，过度饮酒是一种健康风险行为，是第四大可预防的死亡原因。大多数改善安全饮酒的策略依赖于获得准确和及时的酒精消费信息；这些信息包括自我报告饮酒量和饮酒时间、酒精测定仪、实验室的血液分析以及可穿戴设备。与其他自我监测方法相比，可穿戴式酒精监测仪在准确性和可行性方面具有明显的优势。然而，目前用于酒精监测的可穿戴设备笨重、不方便使用、引人注目，并且无法提供关于醉酒程度的一致、实时数据。在这个第二阶段的SBIR项目中，将开发一种独立的石墨烯纳米电子酒精透皮传感器，该传感器集成了校准电子设备和蓝牙收发器，并将在一大批招募的成年志愿者身上进行测试和基准测试。在大规模人体测试中，石墨烯传感器与合法级别的酒精测试仪之间的良好相关性将证实拟议传感器的技术和商业可行性，然后这些传感器可以运往早期采用者，向投资者推销，并最终引入销售。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this project is through providing a wearable alcohol monitoring device to the general population which will lead to a better awareness about alcohol consumption, and ultimately enhance health, lengthen life, and reduce burden of illness and disability. Incautious alcohol use causes health and social problems that either manifest over time due to sustained drinking (e.g., heart disease, cancer, liver disease, diabetes, etc.), or are short term effects of acute intoxication and/or impaired decision-making (e.g., motor vehicle crashes, violence, etc.). Excessive alcohol use led to approximately 88,000 deaths per year in the United States from 2006-2010 and in 2006 alone cost the economy approximately $224 billion. In light of the above social impact, the proposed graphene based wearable alcohol monitoring device addresses the urgent need to implement health approaches to reduce the loss of life and the huge economic costs that result from excessive drinking. In fact, the growing need for personalized health-care is highlighted by the estimated market size of $19 billion for wearable biosensors by 2018, pointing towards the potential commercial opportunity for self-monitoring alcohol sensors as well.This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase 2 project addresses the unmet need for a small, light, unobtrusive, convenient-to-use alcohol sensor for real-time self-monitoring of alcohol consumption. Excessive alcohol consumption is a health risk behavior and the fourth leading preventable cause of death in the United States. Most strategies to improve safe drinking rely on obtaining accurate and timely information about alcohol consumption; these include self-report of number and timing of drinks, breathalyzers, blood analysis by lab, and wearable devices. Wearable alcohol monitors have clear advantages in terms of accuracy and feasibility compared to other methods for self-monitoring. However, current wearable devices for alcohol monitoring are bulky, inconvenient to use, obtrusive, and do not provide consistent, real-time data on the level of intoxication. In this Phase II SBIR project, a stand-alone graphene nanoelectronic transdermal alcohol sensor integrated with calibration electronics and Bluetooth transceiver will be developed, tested and benchmarked on a large group of recruited adult volunteers. Good correlation between the graphene sensor and a legal grade breathalyzer in large-scale human tests will confirm the technical and commercial feasibility of the proposed sensors, which can then be shipped to early adopters, pitched to investors, and ultimately introduced for sales.