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Wearable sweat biosensors offer compelling opportunities for improved personal health monitoring and non-invasive measurements of key biomarkers. Inexpensive device fabrication methods are necessary for scalable manufacturing of portable, disposable, and flexible sweat sensors. Furthermore, real-time sweat assessment must be analyzed to validate measurement reliability at various sweating rates. Here, we demonstrate a “smart bandage” microfluidic platform for cortisol detection and continuous glucose monitoring integrated with a synthetic skin. The low-cost, laser-cut microfluidic device is composed of an adhesive-based microchannel and solution-processed electrochemical sensors fabricated from inkjet-printed graphene and silver solutions. An antibody-derived cortisol sensor achieved a limit of detection of 10 pM and included a low-voltage electrowetting valve, validating the microfluidic sensor design under typical physiological conditions. To understand effects of perspiration rate on sensor performance, a synthetic skin was developed using soft lithography to mimic human sweat pores and sweating rates. The enzymatic glucose sensor exhibited a range of 0.2 to 1.0 mM, a limit of detection of 10 μM, and reproducible response curves at flow rates of 2.0 μL min −1 and higher when integrated with the synthetic skin, validating its relevance for human health monitoring. These results demonstrate the potential of using printed microfluidic sweat sensors as a low-cost, real-time, multi-diagnostic device for human health monitoring.
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Skin‐Interfaced Bifluidic Paper‐Based Device for Quantitative Sweat Analysis
Abstract The erratic, intermittent, and unpredictable nature of sweat production, resulting from physiological or psychological fluctuations, poses intricacies to consistently and accurately sample and evaluate sweat biomarkers. Skin‐interfaced microfluidic devices that rely on colorimetric mechanisms for semi‐quantitative detection are particularly susceptible to these inaccuracies due to variations in sweat secretion rate or instantaneous volume. This work introduces a skin‐interfaced colorimetric bifluidic sweat device with two synchronous channels to quantify sweat rate and biomarkers in real‐time, even during uncertain sweat activities. In the proposed bifluidic‐distance metric approach, with one channel to measure sweat rate and quantify collected sweat volume, the other channel can provide an accurate analysis of the biomarkers based on the collected sweat volume. The closed channel design also reduces evaporation and resists contamination from the external environment. The feasibility of the device is highlighted in a proof‐of‐the‐concept demonstration to analyze sweat chloride for evaluating hydration status and sweat glucose for assessing glucose levels. The low‐cost yet highly accurate device provides opportunities for clinical sweat analysis and disease screening in remote and low‐resource settings. The developed device platform can be facilely adapted for the other biomarkers when corresponding colorimetric reagents are exploited.
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- PAR ID:
- 10482509
- Publisher / Repository:
- Wiley Blackwell (John Wiley & Sons)
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Advanced Science
- Volume:
- 11
- Issue:
- 10
- ISSN:
- 2198-3844
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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