Sweat holds a treasure trove of information about a person’s health and fitness. Extracting and interpreting that information, however, has been challenging.
Now, engineers and scientists at the Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Northwestern Univ. have created a miniature laboratory of sorts tucked inside a tattoo-like material that analyzes a person’s sweat. Designed for one-time use for a few hours, the flexible device samples the wearer’s sweat and analyzes key biomarkers to prompt a person to, for example, adjust their exercise level or replenish electrolytes.
“The intimate skin interface created by this wearable, skin-like microfluidic system enables new measurement capabilities not possible with the kinds of absorbent pads and sponges currently used in sweat collection,” says John Rogers, a professor of materials science and engineering at the Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
The patch is a multilayer stack consisting of three subsystems: a layer of skin-compatible adhesive outfitted with micromachined openings to allow sweat to enter the device; a sealed assembly of soft microfluidic channels and reservoirs filled with color-responsive materials for quantitative analysis of pH and the concentrations of glucose, lactate, and chloride; and a magnetic...
Would you like to access the complete CEP News Update?
No problem. You just have to complete the following steps.
You have completed 0 of 2 steps.
-
Log in
You must be logged in to view this content. Log in now.
-
AIChE Membership
You must be an AIChE member to view this article. Join now.
Copyright Permissions
Would you like to reuse content from CEP Magazine? It’s easy to request permission to reuse content. Simply click here to connect instantly to licensing services, where you can choose from a list of options regarding how you would like to reuse the desired content and complete the transaction.
