A review on advanced nanocomposites materials based smart textile biosensor for healthcare monitoring from human sweat

Textile-based biosensors are emerging in non-invasive healthcare monitoring for analysis human biofluids, such as sweat. In order to measure the concentration of metabolites, electrolytes and trace metals from human sweat for the diagnosis of people’s physiological conditions at real time, smart textile-based biosensors can be incorporated into wearable garments (e.g., cloths). In this review, recent innovations and applications of sweat sensing textile-based biosensors including materials formulation, electrode manufacturing, and fabrication techniques were discussed. Use of various advanced nanocomposites materials such as metal, carbon, and conductive polymers in textile-based sweat sensing biosensor were synthesized. An in-depth discussion on electrochemical sensing technologies like amperometric, potentiometric, square-wave voltammetry, and conductometric methods were provided. Various types of fabrication technologies were discussed to incorporate advanced nanocomposites materials onto textile substrates including dip coating, inkjet printing and screen printing. Moreover, enzymatic and non-enzymatic processes were mentioned for optimizing the performance of textile-based biosensors. Finally, the key challenges limiting the practical applications of smart textile biosensors for sweat sensing were evaluated, along with the prospects of monitoring human health conveniently. A collaboration between engineers, biologists, and clinicians is recommended to utilize the full potential of smart textile biosensors using human sweat in health care monitoring worldwide.