A Three-Dimensional-Printed Recyclable, Flexible, and Wearable Device for Visualized UV, Temperature, and Sweat pH Sensing.

Abstract

Wearable devices are now recognized as a powerful tool to collect physiological and environmental information in a smart, noninvasive, and real-time manner. Despite the rapid progress of wearable devices especially wearable electronic devices, there are still several challenges that limit their further development, for example, a complicated electrical signal acquisition and processing process to eliminate the interference from the surrounding signals, bulky power supply, inevitable e-waste, and environmental pollution. Herein, we report a 3D-printed recyclable, flexible, and wearable device for visualized UV, temperature, and sweat pH sensing. Compared with wearable electronic devices, our visualized wearable device senses environmental (UV light, ambient temperature), biophysical (skin temperature), and biochemical (sweat pH) signals via stimuli-responsive color change, which does not require complicated electronic circuit design/assembly, time-consuming data processing and additional power source. In addition, this visualized wearable device is fabricated via a 3D support bath printing technology by printing UV-, temperature-, and sweat pH-sensing inks containing photochromic, thermochromic, and pH-chromic materials, respectively, into/onto sustainable starch solution, resulting in a multi-functional, recyclable, and flexible sensing device with high reproducibility. Our results reveal that UV light intensities under sunlight (0–2500 μW/cm2), ambient, and skin temperatures (0–38 °C) as well as sweat pH (4.0–7.0) can be successfully monitored.