Garment embedded sweat-activated batteries in wearable electronics for continuous sweat monitoring

Thin, soft, and skin-integrated electronic system has great advantages for realizing continuous human healthcare monitoring. Here, we report an ultra-thin, flexible, and garment-based microelectronics powered by sweat-activated batteries (SABs) and applications of powering biosensors and microelectronic systems for real time sweat monitoring. The SAB cell is ultra-thin (1.25 mm) with excellent biocompatibility. The SAB has good electricity output with high capacity (14.33 mAh) and maximum power density (3.17 mW cm(-2)) after being activated by the sweat volume of 0.045 mL cm(-2), which could continuously power 120 light emitting diodes over 3 h. The outputs could maintain stable after repeatable bending. Wireless microelectronics system could be continuously powered by the SABs for 3 h to monitor sweat and physiological information, including sweat Na+ concentration, pH, and skin impedance. The reported integrated system provides a potential for solving the power issues of flexible wearable electronics and realizing personalized medicine.

Automated summary

This article introduces an ultra-thin, flexible, garment-based microelectronics system powered by sweat-activated batteries. It can continuously power biosensors and microelectronic systems for real-time sweat monitoring. The system has good electricity output, high biocompatibility, and potential for solving power issues in flexible wearable electronics.