Electrochemical Characterization of Stainless Steel as a New Electrode Material in a Medical Device for the Diagnosis of Sudomotor Dysfunction

An electrochemical sensor detects the risk of diabetes and prediabetes; low potentials are applied to nickel electrodes and electrical responses are measured. Although the contact of nickel with skin is short, the risk of allergical reactions cannot be discarded. SS 304L, with lower Ni content, was tested in carbonate buffer solutions containing chloride, lactate and urea to investigate its sensitivity to different parameters in sweat and compare it to nickel. The results show that SS 304L is a suitable material for the assessment of sudomotor dysfunction due to its high capacity to detect the deviation in Cl− concentration. Sensitivity of SS 304L to Cl− is much higher than for nickel.