State of Sweat: Emerging Wearable Systems for Real-Time, Noninvasive Sweat Sensing and Analytics

ACS Sens. 2021 Aug 27;6(8):2787-2801. doi: 10.1021/acssensors.1c01133. Epub 2021 Aug 5.

Abstract

Skin-interfaced wearable systems with integrated colorimetric assays, microfluidic channels, and electrochemical sensors offer powerful capabilities for noninvasive, real-time sweat analysis. This Perspective details recent progress in the development and translation of novel wearable sensors for personalized assessment of sweat dynamics and biomarkers, with precise sampling and real-time analysis. Sensor accuracy, system ruggedness, and large-scale deployment in remote environments represent key opportunity areas, enabling broad deployment in the context of field studies, clinical trials, and recent commercialization. On-body measurements in these contexts show good agreement compared to conventional laboratory-based sweat analysis approaches. These device demonstrations highlight the utility of biochemical sensing platforms for personalized assessment of performance, wellness, and health across a broad range of applications.

Keywords: biosensors; eccrine sweat; epidermal microfluidics; flexible electronics; health monitoring; lab-on-chip; sweat analysis; wearable sensors.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Microfluidics
  • Skin
  • Sweat*
  • Wearable Electronic Devices*