A Fully Integrated and Self-Powered Smartwatch for Continuous Sweat Glucose Monitoring

Journal Article · Thu Jul 04 00:00:00 EDT 2019 · ACS Sensors

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1021/acssensors.9b00891· OSTI ID:1638991

Zhao, Jiangqi ^[1]; Lin, Yuanjing  ^[2]; Wu, Jingbo ^[3]; Nyein, Hnin Yin Yin  ^[4]; Bariya, Mallika  ^[4]; Tai, Li-Chia ^[4]; Chao, Minghan ^[3]; Ji, Wenbo  ^[4]; Zhang, George ^[4]; Fan, Zhiyong  ^[5]; Javey, Ali  ^[4]

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1. Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States). Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences and Berkeley Sensor and Actuator Center; Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). Materials Sciences Division; Sichuan Univ., Chengdu (China). Polymer Research Inst., State Key Lab. of Polymer Materials
2. Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States). Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences and Berkeley Sensor and Actuator Center; Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). Materials Sciences Division; Hong Kong Univ. of Science and Technology, Hong Kong (China). Dept. of Electronic and Computer Engineering
3. Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States). Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences
4. Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States). Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences and Berkeley Sensor and Actuator Center; Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). Materials Sciences Division
5. Hong Kong Univ. of Science and Technology, Hong Kong (China). Dept. of Electronic and Computer Engineering

Wearable devices for health monitoring and fitness management have foreseen a rapidly expanding market, especially those for noninvasive and continuous measurements with real-time display that provide practical convenience and eliminated safety/infection risks. In this research, a self-powered and fully integrated smartwatch that consists of flexible photovoltaic cells and rechargeable batteries in the forms of a “watch strap”, electrochemical glucose sensors, customized circuits, and display units integrated into a “dial” platform is successfully fabricated for real-time and continuous monitoring of sweat glucose levels. The functionality of the smartwatch, including sweat glucose sensing, signal processing, and display, can be supported with the harvested/converted solar energy without external charging devices. The Zn-MnO₂ batteries serve as intermediate energy storage units and the utilization of aqueous electrolytes eliminated safety concerns for batteries, which is critical for wearable devices. Such a wearable system in a smartwatch fashion realizes integration of energy modules with self-powered capability, electrochemical sensors for noninvasive glucose monitoring, and in situ and real-time signal processing/display in a single platform for the first time. The as-fabricated fully integrated and self-powered smartwatch also provides a promising protocol for statistical study and clinical investigation to reveal correlations between sweat compositions and human body dynamics.

• Research Organization: Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES). Materials Sciences & Engineering Division; National Science Foundation (NSF)
• Grant/Contract Number: AC02-05CH11231
• OSTI ID: 1638991
• Journal Information: ACS Sensors, Vol. 4, Issue 7; ISSN 2379-3694
• Publisher: American Chemical Society (ACS)
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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flexible biosensors
noninvasive glucose monitoring
self-powered system
wearable electronics
healthcare and fitness management