Sweat detection theory and fluid driven methods: A review

In recent years, analyses of sweat have become more popular since it doesn't require invasive sampling procedures. Although blood still remains the golden standards in clinical, analyses of other common body fluids, such as sweat, have become increasingly important. Because the compositions of sweat and blood are osmotically related, the content of certain metabolites in sweat can directly reflect the disease. Sweat detection can be used as an alternative to blood detection and allows continuous monitoring. Increased development of wearable sensors makes it possible for continuous sweat detection. Here, this paper gave a review about the sweat detection methods, such as fluorescence sensing, electrochemical sensing and colorimetric sensing. The advantages and disadvantages of each method and their developing trend in sweat detection were summarized. Then, for the problem of continuous sweat sampling, three methods (capillary force, hydrogel osmotic pump, evaporation-driven micropump) were introduced through different structures of microfluidic chip, and the level of sweat collection and transport achieved by related research was demonstrated. This review aims to provide guidance for future research in sweat detection and stimulate further interest in continuous monitoring of sweat using microfluidic chip.