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Introduction: Newly developed wearable fabric sensors (WFS) can increase the ease and accuracy of sweat sodium measurements by performing simultaneous sampling and analysis on the body during exercise. Purpose: Determine the accuracy of a WFS for measurement of sodium concentration in sweat. METHODS: Subjects wore a WFS prototype and sweat collectors on their forearm during cycle ergometry. Subjects exercised at a moderate intensity (~ 65% heart rate reserve) for 30–60 min. Sweat samples were collected and analyzed using a commercial sweat sodium analyzer (SSA) every 10–15 min. WFS were adhered with an armband and connected to custom built electronics. Accuracy was determined by comparing predicted WFS concentration to the actual concentration from the commercial SSA and analyzed statistically using ANOVA and Bland−Altman plots. Results: A total of 19 subjects completed the study. The average sweat sodium concentration was 59 mM ± 22 mM from a SSA compared with 54 mM ± 22 mM from the WFS. Overall, the average accuracy of the WFS was 88% in comparison to the SSA with p = 0.45. A line of best fit comparing predicted versus actual sweat sodium concentration had a slope of 0.99, intercept of – 4.46, and an r2 of 0.90. Bland−Altman analysis showed the average concentration difference between the WFS and the SSA was 5.35 mM, with 99% of data points between ± 1.96 times the standard deviation. Conclusion: The WFS accurately predicted sweat sodium concentration during moderate intensity cycle ergometry. With the need for precise assessment of sodium loss, especially during long duration exercise, this novel analysis method can benefit athletes and coaches. Further research involving longer duration and more intense exercise is warranted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, wearable resistive gas sensors based on hybrid graphene/zinc oxide (ZnO) nanocomposites were fabricated on a flexible cotton fabric and employed to monitor odorless and colorless carbon monoxide (CO). Dip-coating and chemical bath deposition (CBD) was used to deposit the graphene layer and grow the ZnO nanorods, respectively. The films were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), and X-Ray diffraction (XRD) to investigate their morphological structures, elemental composition, and crystal phase, respectively. Those characterizations were also confirming the growth of ZnO nanorods on the already-deposited graphene layer on fabrics. From the gas sensor measurements at room temperature, it was revealed that these graphene/ZnO nanocomposites were highly sensitive and selective towards CO gas at low concentration down to 10 ppm. The shortest response and recovery times of the sensors were measured to be 280 s and 45 s, respectively. Moreover, in comparison to bare graphene sensors, the surface modification by ZnO nanorods could obviously enhance the sensing response by up to 40% (i.e., doubled sensitivity). These flexible hybrid sensors are therefore expected to be a promising alternative for the existing rigid CO sensors in the market by offering unique nanostructures, low-cost fabrication, high flexibility, and good sensing performances.