Sweat contains biomarkers that help doctors make medical diagnoses. Wearable sensors can be used to monitor a person’s sweat and provide information about skin, nervous activity and underlying health conditions. But not all sweat is created equal, and some cannot be measured with current sensors. The New superhydrophobic biosensor developed can be used as a diagnostic tool to detect these types of sweat. The effect, created by Huanyu “Larry” Cheng, James L. Henderson, Jr. Memorial Associate Professor of Engineering Science and Mechanics, presented in a paper published in ACS Nano.
Sensitive sweat, or liquid sweat, is sweat that a person can produce, such as during vigorous exercise. Wearable sensors can provide continuous, non-invasive tracking of this type of sweat. Uncommon sweat, or vapor, is different. It is water that is lost only through the skin, hidden at a low level during low exercise or rest, and it is difficult to measure, according to Cheng.
“Non-sensitive sweat care is of great interest in assessing skin health and disease, such as eczema and wound healing, as well as underlying medical conditions, such as pain or stress,” Cheng said. “The skin interface device that detects the amount of sweat and the loss is now limited to work with sweat that has a negative effect on sweat that is not heated.”
Cheng has developed a prototype superhydrophobic sweat sensor to measure vapor from sweat insensitively. The material – a superabsorbent hydrogel composed of porous substrate sandwiched between two superhydrophobic textile layers – allows the permeation of sweat vapor while preventing the effect of external water droplets from the sweat effect . The sensor can be connected to the flexible air communication and energy module that continuously monitors the sweat rate in different places on the body.
“The demonstration of the concept in humans has shown that it is possible to continue to investigate the thermoregulatory functions of the body and skin,” said Cheng. “This allows the analysis of thermal comfort, disease and the nervous system and provides a low-cost device platform to identify other health biomarkers and sweat vapor as a sensor. The next technology generation for smart healthcare and personalized medicine.”
Source: Penn State
