Chemical Sensor Platform for Non-Invasive Monitoring of Activity and Dehydration

Abstract

A non-invasive solution for monitoring of the activity and dehydration of organisms is proposed in the work. For this purpose, a wireless standalone chemical sensor platform using two separate measurement techniques has been developed. The first approach for activity monitoring is based on humidity measurement. Our solution uses new humidity sensor based on a nanostructured TiO2 surface for sweat rate monitoring. The second technique is based on monitoring of potassium concentration in urine. High level of potassium concentration denotes clear occurrence of dehydration. Furthermore, a Wireless Body Area Network (WBAN) was developed for this sensor platform to manage data transfer among devices and the internet. The WBAN coordinator controls the sensor devices and collects and stores the measured data. The collected data is particular to individuals and can be shared with physicians, emergency systems or athletes' coaches. Long-time monitoring of activity and potassium concentration in urine can help maintain the appropriate water intake of elderly people or athletes and to send warning signals in the case of near dehydration. The created sensor system was calibrated and tested in laboratory and real conditions as well. The measurement results are discussed.

Advanced Materials for Health Monitoring with Skin‐Based Wearable Devices

“…Levels of sweat metabolites (such as lactate and uric acid) and electrolytes (metal ions, such as sodium and potassium), as well as skin humidity, are useful physiological parameter indirectly reflecting health status of an individual, and can potentially be used to probe body conditions by non‐invasive monitoring . Table summarizes the use of sweat body fluids as physiological biomarkers …”

“…By continuous or frequent detection of vital signs (e.g. pressure pulses and body temperature), wearable devices can provide important feedback on human health status . On the other hand, perspiration contains a diversity of chemical species (e.g.…”

Fabrication of highly ordered short free-standing titania nanotubes

“…The effect of photogeneration of charge carriers (electrons and holes) can be used in advanced degradation of organic pollutants in water or air [2,3]. The properties of this material destine it for using in photocatalysis [4], energy storage devices and dyesensitized solar cells [5], electrochromic devices [6], sensors [7], self-cleaning surfaces [8], photolysis of water [2], biomedical [9][10][11] and smart-surface coatings [9]. TiO 2 nanostructures with various sizes and crystal structures can be created by different methods.…”

Smart Materials for Wearable Healthcare Devices

“…By continuous or frequent detection of the level of physical markers (e.g. pressure pulses and body temperature) using different sensing techniques, wearable devices can provide one of the most comprehensive feedbacks on human health states [7,8,19,22,[24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32]. Perspiration contains a diversity of chemical species (e.g.…”