Graphene-Based Sensor for the Detection of Cortisol for Stress Level Monitoring and Diagnostics

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Electrochemistry
• Biomedical Sensing

Background:

• Cortisol detection is crucial for diagnosing stress-related disorders and monitoring health.
• Existing methods for cortisol detection can be expensive or lack sensitivity.
• Graphene and pyrrole composites offer promising properties for electrochemical sensing applications.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a novel, cost-effective, and highly sensitive material for cortisol detection.
• To investigate the sensing capabilities of a multi-layer graphene and pyrrole composite.
• To establish a sensitive method for detecting cortisol in artificial and human saliva.

Main Methods:

• Fabrication of a graphene-pyrrole composite using ultrasonication and cyclic voltammetry.
• Testing the composite's sensitivity to ultra-low cortisol levels in artificial saliva.
• Analysis of the composite using Raman spectroscopy and molecular modeling (MarvinBeans software).

Main Results:

• The graphene-pyrrole composite demonstrated high sensitivity for cortisol detection.
• The material successfully detected cortisol in artificial saliva at levels consistent with human samples.
• A detection limit as low as 0.5 ng/mL for cortisol was achieved using cyclic voltammetry.

Conclusions:

• The developed graphene-pyrrole composite is a promising material for low-cost, high-sensitivity cortisol detection.
• This material shows potential for practical applications in salivary diagnostics.
• Further research can optimize the composite for enhanced performance in clinical settings.