Low cost printed sensors detect compounds in sweat

Researchers at the University of California Berkeley developed the sensors as part of a wider study into what health markers can be determined by analysing the composition of sweat.

“I always say ‘decoding’ sweat composition,” said lead computer scientist Ali Javey, lead author on a paper describing the study in Science Advances. The sensors, which utilise microfluidic principles, monitor the rate of sweating and detect and measure the level of electrolytes and metabolites in the sweat.

The sensors contain a very fine spiralling tube, which wicks sweat away from the skin towards a series of sensors that detect potassium and sodium ions as well as compounds like glucose.

"Traditionally what people have done is they would collect sweat from the body for a certain amount of time and then analyse it," said graduate materials science and engineering student Hnin Yin Yin Nyein, another member of the team. “So you couldn't really see the dynamic changes very well with good resolution. Using these wearable devices we can now continuously collect data from different parts of the body, for example to understand how the local sweat loss can estimate whole-body fluid loss."