Green and Integrated Wearable Electrochemical Sensor for Chloride Detection in Sweat

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Biomedical Engineering
• Analytical Chemistry

Background:

• Wearable sensors offer convenient monitoring of sweat biomarkers for disease detection.
• Developing sustainable and eco-friendly sensor materials is crucial for widespread adoption.
• Chloride ion levels in sweat are indicative of certain physiological conditions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a green wearable sensor for sweat absorption and chloride ion detection.
• To utilize sustainable materials like polylactic acid (PLA) and upcycled silver electrodes.
• To demonstrate the feasibility of an integrated, skin-applicable sensor for sweat analysis.

Main Methods:

• Fabrication of PLA substrates and sweat absorption pads using thermal bonding and electrospinning.
• Preparation of silver-based electrodes from upcycled compact discs.
• Integration of PLA components and silver electrodes into a functional sensor device.
• Characterization of PLA properties (transparency, bonding strength) and membrane adhesion.
• Quantification of chloride ions using the integrated sensor in standard solutions and real sweat samples.

Main Results:

• Successfully fabricated a green wearable sensor using PLA and upcycled silver electrodes.
• Demonstrated effective sweat absorption and chloride ion detection capabilities.
• Achieved sensitive and reproducible quantification of chloride ions.
• Validated sensor performance in a real sweat sample from a healthy volunteer.

Conclusions:

• The developed green wearable sensor is feasible for direct skin application.
• The sensor provides a sustainable and integrated platform for chloride ion quantification in sweat.
• This technology holds potential for non-invasive disease monitoring through sweat analysis.