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The determination of skin surface pH via the skin volatile emission using wearable colorimetric sensors

Finnegan, Melissa, Duffy, Emer orcid logoORCID: 0000-0003-4557-6487 and Morrin, Aoife orcid logoORCID: 0000-0002-3031-4794 (2022) The determination of skin surface pH via the skin volatile emission using wearable colorimetric sensors. Sensing and Bio-Sensing Research, 35 . ISSN 2214-1804

Abstract
Biodiagnostic sensors in the form of wearables have become of widespread interest in both the scientific and clinical communities in recent years due to their potential for monitoring human health, well-being and physical performance. However, collecting biofluids from the skin to enable biochemical analysis using wearables has proved challenging to date. This research seeks to overcome the need for fluid collection by designing a wearable sensing platform capable of monitoring the volatile emission from skin with the aim of collecting biodiagnostic information from the body. We investigate the use of a simple wearable colorimetric sensing platform incorporating sensor spots comprising encapsulated bromocresol green pH indicator dye in an enclosed headspace above the skin. The sensor spots undergo a colour change in response to basic volatile nitrogen compounds such as ammonia and amines being emitted from skin. By deploying this wearable in a healthy participant study, a strong correlation between sensor colour response and skin surface pH was demonstrated, despite a significant inter-individual variability being noted. Sensor response was observed to be highly dependent on gender as well as body site, and attributed to factors such as gland and microbial composition differences. Finally, the wearable’s ability to detect changes in skin surface pH in response to topical skin treatments was demonstrated. Overall, this work demonstrates a novel and simple approach to wearable biodiagnostics that exploits the skin volatile emission to monitor skin physiology without the need for microneedles or the requirement to harvest f luid from the skin.
Metadata
Item Type:Article (Published)
Refereed:Yes
Additional Information:Article number: 100473
Uncontrolled Keywords:Wearable; Colorimetric sensor; Skin surface pH; Volatile fatty acids; Ammonia; Gland secretions; Euclidean distance
Subjects:Physical Sciences > Chemical detectors
DCU Faculties and Centres:DCU Faculties and Schools > Faculty of Science and Health > School of Chemical Sciences
Research Institutes and Centres > National Centre for Sensor Research (NCSR)
Research Institutes and Centres > INSIGHT Centre for Data Analytics
Publisher:Elsevier
Official URL:https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.sbsr.2022.100473
Copyright Information:© 2022 The Authors.
Funders:Insight SFI Research Centre for Data Analytics under Science Foundation Ireland (SFI); Grant Number SFI/12/RC/2289_P2, co-funded by the European Regional Development Fund., European Union's Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Grant Agreement Number 796289.
ID Code:27441
Deposited On:27 Jul 2022 16:18 by Thomas Murtagh . Last Modified 24 Mar 2023 10:05
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