Micro-sonobot-based decontamination for the renewable sweat glucose sensors

The increase in the diabetic population and requirements for glucose monitoring devices accelerates the promotion of tremendous glucose biosensors. Aside from blood, alternative body fluids were explored to indicate the glucose profiles in a non-invasive manner. Sweat sensing using electrochemical biosensors offers an ideal solution for glucose monitoring, but their widespread application is now greatly hindered by the performance decreasing over the operation period. Here, we present a micro-sonobot-based decontamination strategy for the sweat glucose sensor to gently clean the sensor and achieve the recovery of its sensing activity. A screen-printed electrochemical biosensor with Cu 2 O decoration was proposed to detect sweat glucose and unveil the relationship between sweat and blood glucose levels. The sweat pollutant removal and sensor regeneration were realized using an acoustic manipulation platform and the bubble-powered micro-sonobots. The specified vibration mode of the acoustic manipulation platform generates the desired acoustic field for the control of bubble-powered micro-sonobots. The self-generated and swarm-enhanced acoustic streaming as well as the motion of micro-sonobots on the fouled sensor effectively remove the sweat pollutant and realize the renewal. The proposed decontamination method is expected to be a step toward the widespread application of sweat glucose biosensors and a general solution for the cleaning and regeneration of miniaturized surface-based biosensors.