Smart Textiles with Integrated Biosensors for Real-time Health Monitoring

Background: The advent of wearable technology has paved the way for smart textiles, which integrate biosensors into the fabric itself. This integration enhances comfort, continuous monitoring, and data accuracy, transforming the fabric into a second skin. These smart textiles can monitor vital signs, metabolic markers, and environmental pollutants in real-time, providing valuable health insights and environmental data. Methods: This review explores the materials, types of biosensors, and methods used to integrate them into textiles. It examines various bioreceptors, such as enzymes, antibodies, and nucleic acids, and their specific applications in biosensing. The study also discusses physicochemical detectors, including electrochemical, optical, and piezoelectric sensors, and their signal transduction mechanisms. Results: Smart textiles equipped with biosensors demonstrate significant potential in real-time health monitoring and environmental sensing. Vital signs, glucose, lactate, pathogens, and pollutants can be effectively monitored using these textiles. The integration techniques, such as weaving, knitting, and printing technologies, ensure seamless blending of biosensors with the fabric. The incorporation of advanced materials like graphene and carbon nanotubes enhances the conductivity and sensing capabilities of these textiles. Conclusion: Smart textiles with integrated biosensors represent a significant advancement in healthcare and environmental monitoring. They offer real-time, continuous, and non-invasive monitoring capabilities, transforming how individuals manage their health and how environmental data is collected. Despite challenges such as biocompatibility, durability, and cost, ongoing research and development promise to address these issues, paving the way for widespread adoption and innovation in this field.