Chloride Activity Sensing in Sweat for Cystic Fibrosis Diagnosis by Biocompatible Flexible Tag

The pioneering design of a wearable miniaturized and flexible potentiometric chloride activity sensing platform to provide real-time diagnosis and monitoring of Cystic Fibrosis (CF) is here presented. To ensure wearable and comfortable functionality, a flexible support has been employed for both the electrodes monitoring the changes in ion concentration in the sample solution and the smart readout electronics. The proposed electronic system embeds a microcontroller, enabling potential analysis of the acquired data together with the patient history and an RF module. It ensures wireless transmission of measurements and diagnosis to a remote healthcare center. Experimental results on proposed device showed that the developed bendable electrodes have Nernstian sensitivity (about 57 mV/dec of chloride concentration) within the 5 mmol/l–75 mmol/l range, which is relevant for CF screening. The proposed system is capable of detecting chloride concentrations with error margin spanning from ±0.16 mM (around 5 mmol/l) to ±2.94 mM (in the worst-case at 100 mmol/l) using a 50 µl of sweat sample. The presence of a μController enables the AI data analysis, making possible the diagnosis and the follow-up monitoring of patients under pharmaceutical treatments. The results closely match the precision of specialized medical equipment, suggesting the potential utility of this device in the fight against CF.