Sweat Sensors for Human Medicine - A Review

In recent years, there has been significant interest in developing wearable devices to mimic the integrated sensing of life forms, which enhances their performance and survival capabilities. Progress in the development of physical sensors and wearable electronics has been promising, leading to numerous consumer products that measure activity, posture, heart rate, respiration rate, and blood oxygen level. Despite the challenges in retrieving and processing bodily fluids, wearable chemical sensors have been slower to develop. Sweat provides a rich repository of biomarkers that can be accessed continuously, on-the-go, and non-invasively. This review explores recent trends in wearable sweat sensing, including topics in material science, device development, sensing mechanisms, power generation, and data management. Examples of wearable sweat sensors are included as well as commercialization efforts. The review highlights the trends in multifunctional sensing platforms with flexible electronics that integrate data from both physical and biochemical sweat sensors.