A Granular Hydrogel-Enabled Wearable Electrochemical Biosensing Platform for Continuous Non-Invasive Sweat Lactate...

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Engineering
• Materials Science
• Analytical Chemistry

Background:

• Continuous, non-invasive sweat biomarker monitoring offers vital health insights.
• Current sweat collection methods often require strenuous activity or stimuli.
• Low sweat rates at rest are challenging for near-real-time analysis using microfluidics.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop an innovative body fluid collection strategy for on-body sweat analysis at rest.
• To enable near-real-time detection of sweat biomarkers using microfluidic devices.
• To create an accessible and sensitive biosensing technology for daily activities.

Main Methods:

• Utilized a granular hydrogel scaffold (GHS) for osmotic and capillary sweat uptake.
• Integrated GHS with a spiral microfluidic channel to minimize evaporation and store sweat.
• Employed an enzymatic gold-graphene nanocomposite-modified laser-induced graphene (LIG) electrode and LIG-based pH sensor for detection.

Main Results:

• The GHS system effectively collected ultralow amounts of sweat at rest.
• The integrated microfluidic device reduced sweat evaporation and enabled storage.
• Accurate, continuous on-body detection of sweat lactate was achieved during normal daily activities.

Conclusions:

• The GHS-integrated microfluidic system facilitates sweat collection and near-real-time analysis.
• The low-cost, flexible LIG-based sensing system provides sensitive and stable detection.
• This technology offers an accessible approach for sweat-based biosensing during everyday life.