An official website of the United States government
Abstract Microfluidic‐based wearable electrochemical sensors represent a transformative approach to non‐invasive, real‐time health monitoring through continuous biochemical analysis of body fluids such as sweat, saliva, and interstitial fluid. These systems offer significant potential for personalized healthcare and disease management by enabling real‐time detection of key biomarkers. However, challenges remain in optimizing microfluidic channel design, ensuring consistent biofluid collection, balancing high‐resolution fabrication with scalability, integrating flexible biocompatible materials, and establishing standardized validation protocols. This review explores advancements in microfluidic design, fabrication techniques, and integrated electrochemical sensors that have improved sensitivity, selectivity, and durability. Conventional photolithography, 3D printing, and laser‐based fabrication methods are compared, highlighting their mechanisms, advantages, and trade‐offs in microfluidic channel production. The application section summarizes strategies to overcome variability in biofluid composition, sensor drift, and user adaptability through innovative solutions such as hybrid material integration, self‐powered systems, and AI‐assisted data analysis. By analyzing recent breakthroughs, this paper outlines critical pathways for expanding wearable sensor technologies and achieving seamless operation in diverse real‐world settings, paving the way for a new era of digital health.
more »
« less
Wearable devices for continuous monitoring of biosignals: Challenges and opportunities
The ability for wearable devices to collect high-fidelity biosignals continuously over weeks and months at a time has become an increasingly sought-after characteristic to provide advanced diagnostic and therapeutic capabilities. Wearable devices for this purpose face a multitude of challenges such as formfactors with long-term user acceptance and power supplies that enable continuous operation without requiring extensive user interaction. This review summarizes design considerations associated with these attributes and summarizes recent advances toward continuous operation with high-fidelity biosignal recording abilities. The review also provides insight into systematic barriers for these device archetypes and outlines most promising technological approaches to expand capabilities. We conclude with a summary of current developments of hardware and approaches for embedded artificial intelligence in this wearable device class, which is pivotal for next generation autonomous diagnostic, therapeutic, and assistive health tools.
more »
« less
- Award ID(s):
- 2202259
- PAR ID:
- 10584128
- Publisher / Repository:
- American Institute of Physics
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- APL Bioengineering
- Volume:
- 6
- Issue:
- 2
- ISSN:
- 2473-2877
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
More Like this
-
-
The demand for biomedical devices that can collect high-fidelity data from patients in various environments, inside and outside medical clinics, and can provide high-precision diagnosis and long-term monitoring, is high in the healthcare industry. Among different sensing technologies, this study specifically focuses on providing a review of inductive sensing-based devices used in healthcare. Although the concept of inductive sensing has been used in other fields aside from healthcare, we believe that there is a high potential for a wide range of use of this sensing method across various biomedical devices due to the low cost, flexibility in the sensor design, mature fabrication technologies, and high sensitivity. This review first summarizes the mechanisms of inductive sensing-based devices and design considerations. Then, three main groups of applications that are used in healthcare and rely mainly on inductive sensing for their diagnosis and treatments are presented, including motion tracking and continuous monitoring systems, bio-signal detection systems, and imaging biological tissues. We conclude with a summary of the current status of inductive sensing devices used in healthcare, highlighting the promising capabilities and barriers to overcome.more » « less
-
Future wearable electronics and smart textiles face a major challenge in the development of energy storage devices that are high-performing while still being flexible, lightweight, and safe. Fiber supercapacitors are one of the most promising energy storage technologies for such applications due to their excellent electrochemical characteristics and mechanical flexibility. Over the past decade, researchers have put in tremendous effort and made significant progress on fiber supercapacitors. It is now the time to assess the outcomes to ensure that this kind of energy storage device will be practical for future wearable electronics and smart textiles. While the materials, fabrication methods, and energy storage performance of fiber supercapacitors have been summarized and evaluated in many previous publications, this review paper focuses on two practical questions: Are the reported devices providing sufficient energy and power densities to wearable electronics? Are the reported devices flexible and durable enough to be integrated into smart textiles? To answer the first question, we not only review the electrochemical performance of the reported fiber supercapacitors but also compare them to the power needs of a variety of commercial electronics. To answer the second question, we review the general approaches to assess the flexibility of wearable textiles and suggest standard methods to evaluate the mechanical flexibility and stability of fiber supercapacitors for future studies. Lastly, this article summarizes the challenges for the practical application of fiber supercapacitors and proposes possible solutions.more » « less
-
Wearable sensors are beneficial for continuous health monitoring, movement analysis, rehabilitation, evaluation of human performance, and for fall detection. Wearable stretch sensors are increasingly being used for human movement monitoring. Additionally, falls are one of the leading causes of both fatal and nonfatal injuries in the workplace. The use of wearable technology in the workplace could be a successful solution for human movement monitoring and fall detection, especially for high fall-risk occupations. This paper provides an in-depth review of different wearable stretch sensors and summarizes the need for wearable technology in the field of ergonomics and the current wearable devices used for fall detection. Additionally, the paper proposes the use of soft-robotic-stretch (SRS) sensors for human movement monitoring and fall detection. This paper also recapitulates the findings of a series of five published manuscripts from ongoing research that are published as Parts I to V of “Closing the Wearable Gap” journal articles that discuss the design and development of a foot and ankle wearable device using SRS sensors that can be used for fall detection. The use of SRS sensors in fall detection, its current limitations, and challenges for adoption in human factors and ergonomics are also discussed.more » « less
-
Abstract Swallowing is an ensemble of voluntary and autonomic processes key to maintaining our body’s homeostatic balance. Abnormal swallowing (dysphagia) can cause dehydration, malnutrition, aspiration pneumonia, weight loss, anxiety, or even mortality—especially in older adults—by airway obstruction. To prevent or mitigate these outcomes, it is imperative to regularly assess swallowing ability in those who are at risk of developing dysphagia and those already diagnosed with it. However, current diagnostic tools such as endoscopy, manometry, and videofluoroscopy require access to clinical experts to interpret the results. These results are often sampled from a limited examination timeframe of swallowing activity in a controlled environment. Additionally, there is some risk of periprocedural complications associated with these methods. In contrast, the field of epidermal sensors is finding non-invasive and minimally obtrusive ways to examine swallowing function and dysfunction. In this review, we summarize the current state of wearable devices that are aimed at monitoring swallowing function and detecting its abnormalities. We pay particular attention to the materials and design parameters that enable their operation. We examine a compilation of both proof-of-concept studies (which focus mainly on the engineering of the device) and studies whose aims are biomedical (which may involve larger cohorts of subjects, including patients). Furthermore, we briefly discuss the methods of signal acquisition and device assessment in relevant wearable sensors. Finally, we examine the need to increase adherence and engagement of patients with such devices and discuss enhancements to the design of such epidermal sensors that may encourage greater enthusiasm for at-home and long-term monitoring.more » « less
