Sensing Safety: Developing a Flexible, Portable Alcohol Detection Patch for Community Wellness

Details

• Creators:
  Hedayatipour, Ava ; Huynh, Ryan ; Ademola, Wahaab
• Corporate Creators:
  San Jose State University. College of Business. Mineta Transportation Institute ; California State University, Long Beach
• Corporate Contributors:
  United States. Department of Transportation. University Transportation Centers (UTC) Program ; United States. Department of Transportation. Office of the Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology
• Subject/TRT Terms:
  • Alcohol use
  • Impaired drivers
  • Traffic safety
  • Sensors
  • Electrochemical processes
  • Transportation safety
  • Ethanol
  • Fatalities
  • Monitoring
  • Alcohol-impaired driving
  More +
• Publication/ Report Number:
  26-30 ; CA-MTI-2526
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.31979/mti.2026.2526
• Resource Type:
  Tech Report
• Geographical Coverage:
  United States
• Corporate Publisher:
  San Jose State University. College of Business. Mineta Transportation Institute
• Description:
  Alcohol-impaired driving remains one of the leading causes of traffic fatalities and serious injuries in the United States, posing significant challenges to transportation safety and imposing substantial social and economic costs. Although breathalyzers and wearable alcohol monitoring devices can help detect alcohol consumption, many existing technologies are expensive, bulky, or impractical for continuous, long-term monitoring. This study investigates a low cost electrochemical sensing platform that could support future wearable alcohol monitoring systems for transportation safety applications. Specifically, the report presents the design, fabrication, and experimental evaluation of a custom screen-printed electrode (SPE) integrated with the Texas Instruments LMP91000 potentiostat. Each disposable electrode was fabricated at an estimated material cost of approximately US$0.10 and successfully detected ethanol concentrations ranging from 0% to 30% using cyclic voltammetry and chronoamperometry. Flexible carbon and silver conductive inks were used to fabricate the electrode, which was evaluated using artificial sweat solutions containing varying ethanol concentrations. Experimental results demonstrated repeatable electrochemical responses that increased systematically with ethanol concentration, validating both the fabrication approach and sensing methodology. By combining inexpensive disposable electrodes with reusable electronics, the proposed system provides a scalable foundation for future wearable alcohol monitoring technologies that could support impaired-driving prevention, workplace safety, and transportation research.
• Format:
  PDF
• Funding:
  SB1-SJAUX_2023-26
• Download URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/93579/dot_93579_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 15.79 MB]
• Collection(s):
  University Transportation Centers
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:99424f88053f50fd368b81ed9c550ec3fcec00725b4d3a0df7c698d302c3cb0a9194674f4502db7b37a95dbf0967ec000b1013a25c4f0a842b539fc4ee8af602