Hierarchical Fermat helix-structured electrochemical sensing fibers enable sweat capture and multi-biomarker monitoring

Abstract

Wearable electrochemical sensors have shown potential for personal health monitoring due to their ability to detect biofluids non-invasively at the molecular level. Smart fibers with high flexibility and comfort are currently ideal for fabricating electrochemical sensors, but little research has focused on fluid transport at the human–machine interface, which is of great significance for continuous and stable monitoring and skin comfort. Here, we report an electrochemical sensing fiber with a special core–sheath structure, whose outer layer is wound by nanofibers with a hierarchical Fermat helix structure which has excellent moisture conductivity, and the inner layer is based on CNT fibers covered by three-dimensional reduced graphene oxide folds which have good sensing properties after modification of active materials such as enzymes and selective membranes. This kind of fiber enables efficient sweat capture, and thus only 0.1 μL of sweat is required to activate the device, and it responds very quickly (1.5 s). The fibers were further integrated into a garment to build a wireless sweat detection system, enabling stable monitoring of six physiological markers in sweat (glucose, lactate, Na⁺, K⁺, Ca²⁺, and pH). This work provides a feasible proposal for future personalized medicine and the construction of “smart sensing garments”.