Development of renewable surface biosensors to meet industrial needs for measurement of glucose in fruit juices

Most biosensors reported to date have been prepared, studied and used under laboratory conditions. The feasibility of a very great number of biosensors seems to be demonstrated and their characteristics, very often, established as corresponding to the demands of the modern analysis. The operational stability of the biosensors, according to authors, is almost always acceptable. The long term storage, with analytical quality conservation that is necessary to commercialise products, has rarely been studied. The stability of biosensors has to remain not only during the fabrication step or their subsequent utilisation, but also throughout the whole commercial shelf-life of the sensor, from producer to end user, through wholesaler and/or retailer. We developed the manufacturing processes, on a large scale, of renewable surface electrodes modified with enzymes such as oxidoreductases. The process consisting of several steps is described and the analytical behaviours of resulting biosensors is studied and correlated with the effects of different constraints applied during the fabrication process. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved.