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Wearable sweat sensors

Nature Electronics volume 1, pages 160–171 (2018)Cite this article

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Abstract

Sweat potentially contains a wealth of physiologically relevant information, but has traditionally been an underutilized resource for non-invasive health monitoring. Recent advances in wearable sweat sensors have overcome many of the historic drawbacks of sweat sensing and such sensors now offer methods of gleaning molecular-level insight into the dynamics of our bodies. Here we review key developments in sweat sensing technology. We highlight the potential value of sweat-based wearable sensors, examine state-of-the-art devices and the requirements of the underlying components, and consider ways to tackle data integrity issues within these systems. We also discuss challenges and opportunities for wearable sweat sensors in the development of personalized healthcare.

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Fig. 1: Big data for human health.
Fig. 2: Sweat gland structure and biomarker partitioning.

adapted from ref. 18, AIP.

Fig. 3: Wearable sweat sensors.

reproduced from ref. 6, Macmillan Publishers Ltd (a); ref. 9, IEEE (b); ref. 8, AAAS (c); and adapted from ref. 19, American Chemical Society (d); ref. 37, AACC (e, top); ref. 36, Elsevier (e, bottom).

Fig. 4: Iontophoresis and reverse iontophoresis.
Fig. 5: Multiplexed sensing of sweat analytes.

reproduced from ref. 6, Macmillan Publishers Ltd.

Fig. 6: Correlating non-invasive biomarkers with health status.

reproduced from ref. 7, NAS (a); and adapted from ref. 38, Elsevier (b); ref. 90, Wiley (c).

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Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge support from the National Science Foundation (NSF), Berkeley Sensor and Actuator Center (BSAC), NSF Nanomanufacturing Systems for Mobile Computing and Mobile Energy Technologies (NASCENT) Center, and a Bakar fellowship.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences, University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA

    Mallika Bariya, Hnin Yin Yin Nyein & Ali Javey

  2. Berkeley Sensor and Actuator Center, University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA

    Mallika Bariya, Hnin Yin Yin Nyein & Ali Javey

  3. Materials Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, USA

    Mallika Bariya, Hnin Yin Yin Nyein & Ali Javey

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All authors jointly planned the content of this paper. M.B. and H.Y.Y.N. conducted the writing.

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Bariya, M., Nyein, H.Y.Y. & Javey, A. Wearable sweat sensors. Nat Electron 1, 160–171 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41928-018-0043-y

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