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Skin-interfaced wearable systems with integrated microfluidic structures and sensing capabilities offer powerful platforms for monitoring the signals arising from natural physiological processes. This paper introduces a set of strategies, processing approaches, and microfluidic designs that harness recent advances in additive manufacturing [three-dimensional (3D) printing] to establish a unique class of epidermal microfluidic (“epifluidic”) devices. A 3D printed epifluidic platform, called a “sweatainer,” demonstrates the potential of a true 3D design space for microfluidics through the fabrication of fluidic components with previously inaccessible complex architectures. These concepts support integration of colorimetric assays to facilitate in situ biomarker analysis operating in a mode analogous to traditional epifluidic systems. The sweatainer system enables a new mode of sweat collection, termed multidraw, which facilitates the collection of multiple, independent sweat samples for either on-body or external analysis. Field studies of the sweatainer system demonstrate the practical potential of these concepts.
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A Granular Hydrogel‐Enabled Wearable Electrochemical Biosensing Platform for Continuous Non‐Invasive Sweat Lactate Detection
Abstract Although continuous and non‐invasive measurements of sweat biomarkers may provide vital health information, sweat collection often involves intense physical activities or chemical/thermal stimuli. The natural body sweat during endogenous metabolic or stress processes, secreted at much lower rates at rest, may be continuously analyzed using microfluidic devices integrated with hydrophilic rigid fillers; however, the sweat uptake and accumulation in thermoregulatory processes take too long for near‐real‐time measurements. This work provides an innovative body fluid collection strategy using a granular hydrogel scaffold (GHS), facilitating osmotic and capillary effects to uptake and transfer an ultralow amount of sweat into a microfluidic device at rest. Taken together with a spiral microfluidic channel, the GHS‐embedded microfluidics reduce the evaporation of collected sweat and store it in a sensing well for near‐real‐time measurements. Integrating the sweat‐collecting system with an enzymatic gold‐graphene nanocomposite‐modified laser‐induced graphene (LIG) electrode and a LIG‐based pH sensor enables the accurate continuous on‐body detection of sweat lactate during normal daily activities at a low perspiration rate. The novel combination of a GHS‐integrated microfluidic system with a low‐cost, flexible, sensitive, and stable LIG‐based sensing system provides an accessible technology for sweat‐based biosensing during normal daily activities.
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- PAR ID:
- 10599565
- Publisher / Repository:
- Wiley Blackwell (John Wiley & Sons)
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Small
- Volume:
- 21
- Issue:
- 34
- ISSN:
- 1613-6810
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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