Patent ID: 8025788

Claim:
A method for manufacturing an enzymatic reagent ink for use in analytical test strips, the method comprising: determining a first relationship between wetability of a representative hydrophobic silica material and at least a first calibration characteristic of an analytical test strip that includes an enzymatic reagent ink containing the representative hydrophobic silica material, the first relationship defining a minimum wetability that provides a first calibration characteristic of a calibration slope and/or a calibration intercept; determining a second relationship defining wetability of a mixture of a particular hydrophobic silica material and a particular surfactant across a range of relative amounts of the particular hydrophobic silica material and the particular surfactant; and combining, at least, relative amounts of the particular hydrophobic silica material and the particular surfactant, and an amount of enzyme to form an enzymatic reagent ink that is devoid of the representative hydrophobic silica material; wherein the relative amounts of the particular hydrophobic silica material and the particular surfactant in the combining step are predetermined based on the second relationship to provide at least the minimum wetability defined by the first relationship and, therefore, the first calibration characteristic of a calibration slope and/or a calibration intercept; and wherein the representative hydrophobic silica material and the particular hydrophobic silica materials are non-identical hydrophobic silica materials.