Fully Printed Wearable Microfluidic Devices for High-Throughput Sweat Sampling and Multiplexed Electrochemical Analysis.

Although the recent advancement in wearable biosensors provides continuous, noninvasive assessment of physiologically relevant chemical markers from human sweat, several bottlenecks still exist for its practical use. There were challenges in developing a multiplexed biosensing system with rapid microfluidic sampling and transport properties, as well as its integration with a portable potentiostat for improved interference-free data collection. Here, we introduce a clean-room free fabrication of wearable microfluidic sensors, using a screen-printed carbon master, for the electrochemical monitoring of sweat biomarkers during exercise activities. The sweat sampling is enhanced by introducing low-dimensional sensing compartments and lowering the hydrophilicity of channel layers via facile silane functionalization. The fluidic channel captures sweat at the inlet and directs the real-time sweat through the active sensing electrodes (within 40 s) for subsequent decoding and selective analyses. For proof of concept, simultaneous amperometric lactate and potentiometric ion sensing (Na+, K+, and pH) are carried out by a miniature circuit board capable of cross-talk-free signal collection and wireless signal transduction characteristics. All of the sensors demonstrated appreciable sensitivity, selectivity, stability, carryover efficiency, and repeatability. The floating potentiometric circuits eliminate the signal interference from the adjacent amperometric transducers. The fully integrated pumpless microfluidic device is mounted on the epidermis and employed for multiplexed real-time decoding of sweat during stationary biking. The regional variations in sweat composition are analyzed by human trials at the underarm and upperback locations. The presented method offers a large-scale fabrication of inexpensive high-throughput wearable sensors for personalized point-of-care and athletic applications.

Light-Emitting Atomically Precise Nanocluster-Based Flexible QR Codes for Anticounterfeiting.

Despite tremendous progress in the field of fluorescence-based anticounterfeiting, the advanced anticounterfeiting techniques are still posing challenges all over the world due to their cost and reliability. Recently, light-emitting atomically precise nanoclusters have emerged as attractive building blocks because of their well-defined structure, function, and stable photoluminescence. Herein, we report the room temperature fabrication of a stable, flexible, nontoxic, and low-cost precision nanocluster-based luminescent ink for the stencil printing of an optically unclonable security label. Nanocluster-based printing ink shows brilliant photoluminescence owing to its extended C-H···π/π···π interactions. Spectroscopic and microscopic investigations show that intercalated nanoclusters in the printed security labels are highly stable as their optical features and molecular compositions are unaffected. The exceptional mechanical, thermal, photo, and aqueous stabilities of the printed security labels endorse to demonstrate the printing and smartphone-based electronic reading of the quick response code on a currency. Finally, confidential information protection and decryption under a precise window of light have been achieved by adopting the optical contrast illusion. The overall cost of the security label is found to be approximately 0.013 USD per stamp.

Re-usable electrochemical glucose sensors integrated into a smartphone platform.

This article demonstrates a new smartphone-based reusable glucose meter. The glucose meter includes a custom-built smartphone case that houses a permanent bare sensor strip, a stylus that is loaded with enzyme-carbon composite pellets, and sensor instrumentation circuits. A custom-designed Android-based software application was developed to enable easy and clear display of measured glucose concentration. A typical test involves the user loading the software, using the stylus to dispense an enzymatic pellet on top of the bare sensor strip affixed to the case, and then introducing the sample. The electronic module then acquires and wirelessly transmits the data to the application software to be displayed on the screen. The deployed pellet is then discarded to regain the fresh bare sensor surface. Such a unique working principle allows the system to overcome challenges faced by previously reported reusable sensors, such as enzyme degradation, leaching, and hysteresis effects. Studies reveal that the enzyme loaded in the pellets are stable for up to 8 months at ambient conditions, and generate reproducible sensor signals. The work illustrates the significance of the pellet-based sensing system towards realizing a reusable, point-of-care sensor that snugly fits around a smartphone and which does not face issues usually common to reusable sensors. The versatility of this system allows it to be easily modified to detect other analytes for application in a wide range of healthcare, environmental and defense domains.

Continuous minimally-invasive alcohol monitoring using microneedle sensor arrays.

The present work describes an attractive skin-worn microneedle sensing device for the minimally invasive electrochemical monitoring of subcutaneous alcohol. The device consists of an assembly of pyramidal microneedle structures integrated with Pt and Ag wires, each with a microcavity opening. The microneedle aperture was modified by electropolymerizing o-phenylene diamine onto the Pt wire microtransducer, followed by the immobilization of alcohol oxidase (AOx) in an intermediate chitosan layer, along with an outer Nafion layer. The resulting microneedle-based enzyme electrode displays an interference-free ethanol detection in artificial interstitial fluid without compromising its sensitivity, stability and response time. The skin penetration ability and the efficaciousness of the biosensor performance towards subcutaneous alcohol monitoring was substantiated by the ex vivo mice skin model analysis. Our results reveal that the new microneedle sensor holds considerable promise for continuous non-invasive alcohol monitoring in real-life situations.

A wearable chemical-electrophysiological hybrid biosensing system for real-time health and fitness monitoring.

Flexible, wearable sensing devices can yield important information about the underlying physiology of a human subject for applications in real-time health and fitness monitoring. Despite significant progress in the fabrication of flexible biosensors that naturally comply with the epidermis, most designs measure only a small number of physical or electrophysiological parameters, and neglect the rich chemical information available from biomarkers. Here, we introduce a skin-worn wearable hybrid sensing system that offers simultaneous real-time monitoring of a biochemical (lactate) and an electrophysiological signal (electrocardiogram), for more comprehensive fitness monitoring than from physical or electrophysiological sensors alone. The two sensing modalities, comprising a three-electrode amperometric lactate biosensor and a bipolar electrocardiogram sensor, are co-fabricated on a flexible substrate and mounted on the skin. Human experiments reveal that physiochemistry and electrophysiology can be measured simultaneously with negligible cross-talk, enabling a new class of hybrid sensing devices.

Electrochemical signatures of multivitamin mixtures.

The ability of cyclic square wave voltammetry to identify distinct fingerprints of multiple vitamins, in a single voltammetric run, is demonstrated. This method represents an efficient alternative to more common techniques for fast screening of complex vitamin mixtures or commercial tablets due to its low cost, high speed and sensitivity.