A wearable chemical–electrophysiological hybrid biosensing system for real-time health and fitness monitoring

• Published in: Nature communications Vol. 7; no. 1; p. 11650
• Main Authors: Imani, Somayeh, Bandodkar, Amay J., Mohan, A. M. Vinu, Kumar, Rajan, Yu, Shengfei, Wang, Joseph, Mercier, Patrick P.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 23.05.2016; Nature Publishing Group; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: 639/166/985; 639/638/11/511; 639/638/11/872; 96/10; Biomarkers; Biomarkers - analysis; Biosensing Techniques; Biosensors; Electrocardiography; Electrodes; Electrolytes; Epidermis; Exercise Test - instrumentation; Fabrication; Heart rate; Human subjects; Humanities and Social Sciences; Humans; Lactic Acid - analysis; Male; Monitoring, Physiologic - instrumentation; multidisciplinary; Physiology; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Sensors; Skin; Sweat - chemistry; La Jolla California; United States > US; California
• ISSN: 2041-1723; 2041-1723
• DOI: 10.1038/ncomms11650

Flexible, wearable sensing devices can yield important information about the underlying physiology of a human subject for applications in real-time health and fitness monitoring. Despite significant progress in the fabrication of flexible biosensors that naturally comply with the epidermis, most designs measure only a small number of physical or electrophysiological parameters, and neglect the rich chemical information available from biomarkers. Here, we introduce a skin-worn wearable hybrid sensing system that offers simultaneous real-time monitoring of a biochemical (lactate) and an electrophysiological signal (electrocardiogram), for more comprehensive fitness monitoring than from physical or electrophysiological sensors alone. The two sensing modalities, comprising a three-electrode amperometric lactate biosensor and a bipolar electrocardiogram sensor, are co-fabricated on a flexible substrate and mounted on the skin. Human experiments reveal that physiochemistry and electrophysiology can be measured simultaneously with negligible cross-talk, enabling a new class of hybrid sensing devices. Wearable sensors can provide continuous, convenient feedback for users but typically focus on a small number of physiological parameters. Here, the authors report a skin-worn sensing system that combines a biosensor for lactate detection with an electrocardiogram in one patch, with applications for exercise monitoring.