A Bifunctional Wearable Sensor Based on a Nanoporous Membrane for Simultaneous Detection of Sweat Lactate and Temperature

• Published in: Analytical chemistry (Washington) Vol. 96; no. 7; pp. 3087 - 3095
• Main Authors: Wu, Zeng-Qiang, Cao, Xiao-Qing, Hua, Yu, Yu, Chun-Mei
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States American Chemical Society 06.02.2024
• Subjects: Body temperature; Chemical sensors; Chitosan; Durability; Electrochemistry; Electrodes; Gold; Lactate oxidase; Lactic acid; Liquid oxygen; Membranes; Physiological responses; Polycarbonate; Sensors; Substrate inhibition; Sweat; Temperature dependence; Temperature effects; Wearable technology
• ISSN: 0003-2700; 1520-6882
• DOI: 10.1021/acs.analchem.3c05216

Wearable sensors for non-invasive, real-time detection of sweat lactate have far-reaching implications in the fields of health care and exercise physiological responses. Here, we propose a wearable electrochemical sensor with gold nanoelectrode arrays fabricated on the nanoporous polycarbonate (PC) membrane by encapsulating lactate oxidase (LO x ) in chitosan (CS) hydrogel for detecting body temperature and sweat lactate concurrently. Flexible gold nanoporous electrodes not only enhance electrode area but also offer a nanoconfined space to accelerate the catalytic reaction of LO x and control substrate concentration on the surface of LO x to decrease substrate inhibition. The proposed sensor has a long durability of 13 days and better selectivity for the detection of sweat lactate over a wide linear range (0.01–35 mM) with a low detection limit (0.144 μM). Furthermore, temperature-dependent transmembrane currents passing through the sensor are used to estimate body temperature. We then use multiple linear regression to adjust the effect of temperature on lactate detection and succeed in monitoring lactate molecules in sweat and body temperature during exercise.