A 3D Printed Wearable Bioelectronic Patch for Multi‐Sensing and In Situ Sweat Electrolyte Monitoring

Abstract

Wearable biosensors′ ability to measure continuous health parameters gives promise to healthcare with great potentials to advance precision medicine. The stability and balance within the human body are critical for organ systems′ normal functions. The imbalance of electrolytes may lead to several diseases such as hypertension, heart failure, and kidney diseases. Sweat electrolytes analysis, that is, the analysis of one of the noninvasively accessible biofluids, can provide important information about physiologically relevant quantities, and a combination of them can be employed for comprehensive studies. However, wearable biosensors′ large‐scale utilization for extensive population monitoring requires rapid, reliable, low‐cost, and high‐throughput integration of such platforms. Here, 3D‐printing technology is adapted to develop a novel, multiplex, low‐cost, and mechanically flexible all‐inclusive integrated wearable (AIIW) patch, which contains 3D‐printed flexible sensors along with flexible wearable‐microfluidic sample handling (WMFSH) units, integrated in a few hours. The AIIW patch is fully characterized, and its utility for noninvasive and continuous health monitoring is successfully demonstrated by simultaneous ex situ and in situ measuring of multiple electrolyte levels in sweat. This work is envisioned as another step toward enabling personalized health monitoring practices by implementing 3D‐printing technology in the easy and low‐cost development of customized integrated, flexible wearable biosensing platforms to monitor an individual's health parameters.

All‐3D‐Printed, Flexible, and Hybrid Wearable Bioelectronic Tactile Sensors Using Biocompatible Nanocomposites for Health Monitoring

“…On the other hand, recent efforts have led to notable developments in manufacturing techniques, which pave the approaches to fabricate complex electronics and soft sensors in more convenient, rapid, and lower-cost methods than traditional clean-room-based microfabrication techniques. [14][15][16][17][18][19][20] Over the years, various printing techniques such as inkjet printing, [21][22][23][24][25][26] screen printing, [27] fused depositing modeling, [28] stereolithography printing, and extrusion-based mold printing [29] have been applied to fabricate wearable sensors. However, to achieve reliable and precise monitoring of physiological signals, high sensitivity, mechanical flexibility, and reliability are required.…”

Recent Advances in 3D Printing of Biomedical Sensing Devices

“…First, 3D printing enables different materials to be integrated with each other, which leads to the compaction of the system. For example, Kim et al [34] used extrusion printing to integrate multiple sensing modalities on a single sensor, reducing the overall footprint of the device when compared to having separate sensors, and thereby achieving miniaturization. Second, 3D printing involves the sequential addition of material digitally controlled by computer-aided design (CAD) programs, allowing customized parts to be fabricated with high precision.…”

“…Further, this progress can be combined with wearable technology that can lead to a patchtype epidermal and sweat monitoring sensor. [34] Noble metallic nanostructures possess plasmonic properties that can be used to fabricate plasmonic biosensors for the detection of biomarkers. Surface plasmons are electromagnetic waves propagating along a surface and evanescently decaying away from the metal-dielectric interfaces that are uniquely affected by the presence or absence of specific biomolecules due to a change of refractive index.…”

Laser-Induced Graphene-Based Wearable Epidermal Ion-Selective Sensors for Noninvasive Multiplexed Sweat Analysis

“…The presence of, or variation in, the concentrations of certain biomarkers provides important information on the physiological state [ 8 ]. For example, sodium and potassium are indicative of the electrolyte balance and hydration status [ 9 ]. Excessive loss of them may lead to hyponatremia, hypokalemia, and muscle cramps [ 10 ].…”