Wearable electrochemical sensors for in situ analysis in marine environments

Abstract

The development of wearable screen-printed electrochemical sensors on underwater garments comprised of the synthetic rubber neoprene is reported. These wearable sensors are able to determine the presence of environmental pollutants and security threats in marine environments. Owing to its unique elastic and superhydrophobic morphology, neoprene is an attractive substrate for thick-film electrochemical sensors for aquatic environments and offers high-resolution printing with no apparent defects. The neoprene-based sensor was evaluated for the voltammetric detection of trace heavy metal contaminants and nitroaromatic explosives in seawater samples. We also describe the first example of enzyme (tyrosinase) immobilization on a wearable substrate towards the amperometric biosensing of phenolic contaminants in seawater. Furthermore, the integration of a miniaturized potentiostat directly on the underwater garment is demonstrated. The wearable sensor-potentiostat microsystem provides a visual indication and alert if the levels of harmful contaminants have exceeded a pre-defined threshold. The concept discussed here is well-suited for integration into dry- and wetsuits worn by divers and recreational surfers/swimmers, thereby providing them with the ability to continuously assess their surroundings for environmental contaminants and security hazards.

Screen-printed electrodes for environmental monitoring of heavy metal ions: a review

“…An interesting device based on gold-films deposited on graphite electrodes screen-printed on neoprene has been developed by Malzahn et al [81]. This wearable sensor is able to determine the presence of copper in marine environments.…”

Screen-printed Electrochemical Sensors and Biosensors for Monitoring Metal Pollutants

“…The sensor consisted of Ag working and counter electrodes and a Ag/AgO reference electrode. In the presence of water chloride is liberated from aluminium chlorohydrate which reacts with the Ag working electrode to form free Cl Recently, Malzahn et al [105] have shown the possibility of screen-printing electrochemical sensors onto neoprene diving wet and dry suits. As is illustrated in figure 5 the neoprene material was found to be a suitable substrate to print the working, counter and reference electrodes and could be utilised for the anodic stripping voltammetric determination of Cu ).…”

Wearable Flexible Sensors: A Review

“…BAN is categorized into three categories: off-body, onbody, and in-body [93,98]. Battery operated systems was another option that was considered where the developed system would be powered by a battery integrated into the system [99,100]. The advantage of using self-powered systems [101][102][103] is that the battery or the power unit of the wireless system does not have to be replaced every time the charging-discharging cycle gets over.…”