Shock-resistant wearable pH sensor based on tungsten oxide aerogel

Wearable sensors are pivotal for point-of-care diagnostics, yet their application in extreme conditions is rarely conducted. In this work, we present a wearable pH sensor using tungsten oxide aerogel (TOA) as the sensing material. With the advantages of large specific surface area, high porosity and interconnected network structures, TOA not only provides excellent pH sensing performance but also demonstrates remarkable structural and sensing stability. The potentiometric pH sensor exhibits a high sensitivity (−63.70 mV/pH), a low detectable limit (0.05) and a superior stability (maintained over 50,000 s). Integrated with a Bluetooth module, the wearable sensor achieves non-invasive and real-time pH monitoring on the human skin with minimal deviation (1.91 %) compared to the commercial pH meter. More importantly, the anti-impact behaviors of the TOA-based sensing materials and chip, along with the pH wearable sensor on a pig exhibit an outstanding shock-resistance ability, with variations no more than 7.17 % under an impact of 118.38 kPa. Therefore, this study shows great promise for the aerogel-based personalized health management in the extreme environment.