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

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 lowcost 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.