Wearable/Attachable Sensors and Biosensors

Abstract

Wearable or attachable sensors and biosensors represent a novel non-invasive approach for human health evaluation as well as diagnosis of diseases. Wearable sensors and biosensors can be conformably contacted to different sites of the human body, and enable real-time health monitoring of biological signals tightly associated with health conditions. In this chapter, we review the recent state of the art of wearable biosensors, and their applications in health monitoring. We present a summary of different materials (including wearable substrates, conducting materials, and sensing materials) and related working principles used for wearable biosensors. In detail, we overview the most recent representative progress and working principles of wearable sensors for measurement of physical activities and chemical signals of the body, including physical biosensors (such as for monitoring body motion, heart rate, breath rate, blood pressure, etc.) and chemical biosensors (such as for detecting glucose, ion concentrations, pH, etc.). Finally, the challenges and future perspectives of wearable biosensors for monitoring various kinds of human activities and biochemical signals are discussed.