Paper‐based Wearable Electrochemical Sensors: A New Generation of Analytical Devices

Abstract

Over the past few years, the emergence of electrochemical wearable sensors has attracted considerable attention because of their promising application in point-of-care testing due to some features such as high sensitivity, simplicity, miniaturization, and low fabrication cost. Recent developments in new fabrication approaches and innovative substrates have resulted in sensors able to real-time and on-body measurements. Wearable electrochemical sensors have also been combined with paperbased substrates and directly used on human skin for different applications for non-invasive analyses. Furthermore, wearable electrochemical sensors enable monitoring analytes in different biofluids without complex procedures, such as pre-treatment or sample manipulation. The coupling of IoT to various wearable sensors has also attracted attention due to real-time data collection and handling in remote and resource-limited conditions. This mini-review presents the significant advances in developing wearable electrochemical devices, such as sampling, data collection, connection protocols, and power sources, and discusses some critical challenges for higher performance in this field. We also present an overview of the application of paper as an intelligent substrate for electrochemical wearable sensors and discuss their advantages and drawbacks. Lastly, conclude by highlighting the future advances in wearable sensors and diagnostics by coupling real-time and on-body measurements to multiplexed detection of different biomarkers simultaneously, reducing the cost and time of classical analysis to provide fast and complete overall physiological conditions to the wearer.

Microfluidic solutions for biofluids handling in on-skin wearable systems

“…The results can be monitored in real-time by attaching them to smartphones. 69 Therefore, these platforms, also known as microfluidic paper-based analytical devices (μPADs), have enormous potential for commercialization. Mogera et al have recently reported the fabrication of flexible, stretchable, and skin-conformal plasmonic paper-based microfluidics for continuous sweat sampling and detection.…”

Applications of Smart Material Sensors and Soft Electronics in Healthcare Wearables for Better User Compliance

“…Research in this field has also benefited from 3D and 4D printing technology improvements in the capacity to print biomaterials [ 82 ]. The effectiveness and dependability of sensor-based systems have increased thanks to integration with associative technologies like artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), and IoT, particularly in the areas of data collection, data handling, and real-time monitoring [ 83 ]. The Internet of medical things (IoMT) integrated a biosensor patch for remote monitoring of vital signs [ 84 ], allowing for remote monitoring of vital signs [ 85 , 86 , 87 ].…”

Trends in Paper-Based Sensing Devices for Clinical and Environmental Monitoring

“…Currently, on-site paper-based sensing strategies and portable devices are emerging for point of care detection [ 23 ]. For example, there are portable electrochemical sensing methodologies for on-site detection of pesticide residues in fruits and vegetables [ 24 , 25 ] and advances in optical-sensing strategies for the on-site detection of pesticides in agricultural foods [ 26 ].…”