Physical Characteristic Determination of a Biological Sample

A test sensor for determining a physical characteristic of a sample, comprising:

• a substrate;
• two electrical conductor contacts and two electrical conductors, each electrical conductor contact in electrical communication with an electrical conductor, where the electrical conductor contacts are on the substrate;
• a lid on the substrate forming a sample reservoir with the substrate, the sample reservoir comprising an inlet port;
• and
• one pair of electrodes in the sample reservoir and in electrical communication with the electrical conductors, where
• the one pair of electrodes in the sample reservoir includes an active counter electrode.

A method for determining a corrected analyte concentration of a sample comprising:

• applying a potential of at least 400 mV to a pair of electrical conductor contacts in electrical communication with a pair of electrical conductors in electrical communication with a first electrode pair;
• generating an electrical output from a second electrode pair responsive to an analyte concentration of a sample, the sample in electrical communication with the second electrode pair;
• generating an electrical output from a first electrode pair responsive to a physical characteristic of the sample, the sample in electrical communication with the first electrode pair, the first electrode pair including an active counter electrode;
• correcting the electrical output from the second electrode pair with the electrical output from the first electrode pair;
• and
• determining a corrected analyte concentration of the sample.

A method for determining a physical characteristic content of a sample, comprising:

• applying a potential from 2,000 mV to 6,000 mV to two electrical conductor contacts and two electrical conductors, each electrical conductor contact in electrical communication with an electrical conductor;
• generating an electrical output from one electrode pair responsive to a physical characteristic of the sample, the sample in electrical communication with the one electrode pair, the one electrode pair including an active counter electrode;
• and
• determining a physical characteristic content of the sample from the electrical output.

A system for determining a corrected analyte concentration of a sample comprising:

• a measurement device having contacts in electrical communication with electrical conductor contacts of a test sensor, each electrical conductor contact in electrical communication with an electrical conductor, where the electrical conductor contacts are on a substrate of the test sensor,
• the measurement device includes contacts in electrical communication with circuitry including a processor in electrical communication with an electrical input generator and with a storage medium,
• the test sensor includes a lid on the substrate forming a sample reservoir with the substrate, the sample reservoir comprising an inlet port,
• the test sensor includes at least two pair of electrodes in the sample reservoir in electrical communication with the electrical conductors of the test sensor, where
• a first electrode pair in the sample reservoir includes an active counter electrode, and
• a second electrode pair in the sample reservoir includes an analyte specific ionizing agent on a working electrode of the second electrode pair;
• the electrical input generator is configured to apply an electrical input of at least 400 mV to the contacts of the measurement device in response to an instruction from the processor;
• the test sensor is configured to generate an electrical output from the second electrode pair responsive to an analyte concentration of a sample, the sample in electrical communication with the second electrode pair;
• the test sensor is configured to generate an electrical output from the first electrode pair responsive to a physical characteristic of the sample, the sample in electrical communication with the first electrode pair, the first electrode pair including an active counter electrode;
• the processor is configured to correct the electrical output from the second electrode pair with the electrical output from the first electrode pair in response to non-transient instructions stored in the storage medium;
• and
• the processor is configured to determine a corrected analyte concentration of the sample in response to non-transient instructions stored in the storage medium.

A system for determining a physical characteristic of a sample, comprising:

• a measurement device having contacts in electrical communication with electrical conductor contacts of a test sensor, each electrical conductor contact in electrical communication with an electrical conductor, where the electrical conductor contacts are on a substrate of the test sensor,
• the measurement device includes contacts in electrical communication with circuitry including a processor in electrical communication with an electrical input generator and with a storage medium,
• the test sensor includes a lid on the substrate forming a sample reservoir with the substrate, the sample reservoir comprising an inlet port,
• the test sensor includes one pair of electrodes in the sample reservoir in electrical communication with the electrical conductors of the test sensor, where the one pair of electrodes in the sample reservoir include an active counter electrode, and
• the electrical input generator is configured to apply an electrical input from 2,000 mV to 6,000 mV to the contacts of the measurement device in response to an instruction from the processor;
• the test sensor is configured to generate an electrical output from one electrode pair on the substrate responsive to a physical characteristic of the sample, the sample in electrical communication with the one electrode pair, the one electrode pair including an active counter electrode;
• the processor is configured to determine a physical characteristic content of the sample in response to non-transient instructions stored in the storage medium.

An active electrode pair for participating in the electrochemical reaction of an analyte in a sample, the active electrode pair comprising:

• a working electrode conductor;
• a working electrode core on the working electrode conductor, the working electrode core consisting essentially of carbon, silver metal, silver chloride, and combinations thereof;
• a counter electrode conductor;
• and
• a counter electrode core on the working electrode conductor, the counter electrode core consisting essentially of carbon, silver metal, silver chloride, and combinations thereof, where the silver content of the counter electrode is from 70% to 90% (weight/weight).