Highly scalable, wearable surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy

TL;DR

This paper introduces a highly scalable, flexible, and low-cost wearable SERS sensor made from gold nanomesh, capable of detecting various analytes in real-world conditions, advancing wearable chemical sensing technology.

Contribution

It presents a novel, easy-to-fabricate gold nanomesh-based wearable SERS sensor that is scalable, versatile, and suitable for in-situ detection of diverse analytes.

Findings

Successfully detects sweat biomarkers, drugs, and microplastics.

Demonstrates large-scale, label-free sensing in real-world environments.

Shows compatibility with various surfaces and shapes.

Abstract

The last two decades have witnessed a dramatic growth of wearable sensor technology, mainly represented by flexible, stretchable, on-skin electronic sensors that provide rich information of the wearer's health conditions and surroundings. A recent breakthrough in the field is the development of wearable chemical sensors based on surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) that can detect molecular fingerprints universally, sensitively, and noninvasively. However, while their sensing properties are excellent, these sensors are not scalable for widespread use beyond small-scale human health monitoring due to their cumbersome fabrication process and limited multifunctional sensing capabilities. Here we demonstrate a highly scalable, wearable SERS sensor based on an easy-to-fabricate, low-cost, ultrathin, flexible, stretchable, adhesive, and bio-integratable gold nanomesh. It can be fabricated in any shape and worn on virtually any surface for label-free, large-scale, in-situ sensing of diverse analytes from low to high concentrations (10 nM - 1 mM). To show the practical utility of the wearable SERS sensor, we test the sensor for the detection of sweat biomarkers, drugs of abuse, and microplastics. This wearable SERS sensor represents a significant step toward the generalizability and practicality of wearable sensing technology.