This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: Wearable health-monitoring devices are becoming increasingly important for personalized health care, but conventional patches often rely on substrates that restrict airflow, trap sweat and cause skin discomfort during prolonged use. These limitations can also interfere with the reliable collection and analysis of sweat, highlighting the need for breathable materials that support both comfortable wear and accurate sensing.
Addressing this challenge, researchers led by professor Sooman Lim at Jeonbuk National University, South Korea, have developed a breathable wearable patch using traditional Korean mulberry paper, known as hanji. The platform combines 3D-printed microneedles for potential drug delivery with printed electrodes for wireless uric acid sensing. The study, published in Chemical Engineering Journal, demonstrates the feasibility of incorporating both functions into a single paper-based platform.
The first authors of the study are Aqila Che Ab Rahman and Habibulla Imran, who contributed equally. "Conventional wearable patches often struggle to balance skin comfort with reliable sweat collection. By using breathable mulberry paper, we aimed to develop a platform that supports moisture transport while accommodating both microneedles and printed sensing electrodes," says Lim of Jeonbuk National University.
Unlike impermeable substrates, mulberry paper has a porous network of plant fibers that promotes moisture transport. In experiments, the porous paper sample showed rapid wetting, with its water contact angle decreasing from 72.19° to 7.96° within six seconds. This property could help manage sweat accumulation while supporting its transport toward sensing electrodes.
The researchers fabricated microneedles directly on the mulberry paper substrate using light-based 3D printing, without requiring an additional adhesive layer. By modifying the microneedle geometry, they improved drug-loading capacity. The optimized microneedles achieved a drug loading of 25.36%, compared with 12.6% for unmodified microneedles, and released 56.41% of the loaded model dye over 80 hours.
They also penetrated approximately 954 micrometers into excised rat skin without structural deformation. These findings highlight the patch's potential for future drug-delivery applications. The printed electrochemical sensor detected uric acid across concentrations ranging from 0.01 to 8 micromolar, with a detection limit of 9.3 nanomolar.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
