Electric-Field Pixel Array Biosensor for Catalytic Ion Detection in Diabetic Nephropathy

Trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO) has recently emerged as a clinically relevant biomarker for the early diagnosis and risk stratification of chronic diabetic nephropathy and cardiovascular disease. Here, we report an electric-field-driven pixel array urine biosensor for the assessment of diabetic nephropathy and for elucidating the relationship among urine TMAO, glucose, and urine microalbumin-to-creatinine ratio (UACR). The purified trimethylamine N-oxide reductase (torA) enzyme catalyzes the reduction of TMAO to trimethylamine (TMA) and H2O, during which generated H+ ions modulate the local ionic environment and attenuate the device electric field. The proposed pixel array biosensor, integrated with a dedicated readout circuit, enables quantitative TMAO detection over a broad UACR range, exhibiting a sensitivity of 8.2 mV/(mg/g) over a dynamic range up to 1200 mg/g. In contrast, glucose shows an initial increase at low UACR but becomes highly variable above 30 mg/g, indicating poor correlation with progressive albuminuria due to preserved tubular reabsorption at early stages of glomerular injury. The device further achieves a sensitivity of 2.5 mV/μM, a response time of 10 s, a reproducibility of 98%, and a low long-term offset drift of 0.3 mV. Only 5 μL of urine is required for simultaneous quantification of TMAO and glucose. Overall, the proposed system provides a rapid, sensitive, and user-friendly point-of-care platform for early risk assessment of chronic kidney disease in diabetic populations, enabling improved accessibility for home-based monitoring.