Wearable flexible sweat sensors for healthcare monitoring: a review.

Abstract

The state-of-the-art in wearable flexible sensors (WFSs) for sweat analyte detection was investigated. Recent advances show the development of integrated, mechanically flexible and multiplexed sensor systems with on-site circuitry for signal processing and wireless data transmission. When compared with single-analyte sensors, such devices provide an opportunity to more accurately analyse analytes that are dependent on other parameters (such as sweat rate and pH) by improving calibration from <i>in situ</i> real-time analysis, while maintaining a lightweight and wearable design. Important health conditions can be monitored and on-demand regulating drugs can be delivered using integrated wearable systems but require correlation verification between sweat and blood measurements using <i>in vivo</i> validation tests before any clinical application can be considered. Improvements are necessary for device sensitivity, accuracy and repeatability to provide more reliable and personalized continuous measurements. With rapid recent development, it can be concluded that non-invasive WFSs for sweat analysis have only skimmed the surface of their health monitoring potential and further significant advancement is sure to be made in the medical field.