An Immediate-Response Detection System for γ-Hydroxybutyrate to Enhance Personal Safety in Social Environments

Drug misuse and abuse remain critical global challenges, driving public health and societal burdens through increased morbidity and mortality, impaired driving, interpersonal violence, and escalating healthcare and criminal-justice expenditures. Drug-facilitated sexual assault (DFSA) remains a pressing societal concern, and γ-hydroxybutyrate (GHB) is a representative DFSA agent categorized as a date rape drug. GHB is endogenously derived, exists at low concentrations, and has a short detection window and weak optical features that complicate conventional assays and contribute to missed or delayed detection. These challenges are especially important because GHB can induce rapid clinical presentation that overlaps with alcohol or other sedatives, making timely identification critical for acute management and safeguarding decisions. This necessitates reliable detection of exogenous GHB in minimally invasive samples. This study presents a graphene-based electrical biosensor for rapid detection of GHB with high sensitivity and selectivity, achieving a limit of detection (LOD) of 100 fm for standard GHB solutions and a correlated LOD of 100 fm in artificial urine matrices. The platform enables rapid, on-site detection with concentration-dependent electrical responses across a wide dynamic range suitable for clinically and forensically relevant GHB levels, with broad implications for diagnostics, forensic analysis, and public health strategies to reduce drug-related harm.