Wearable electrochemical sensors are transforming the fields of personalized medicine and precision agriculture by enabling sensitive, selective, and rapid assessment of biological and environmental conditions. Recent advances have greatly improved the miniaturization, flexibility, and analytical power of these platforms, facilitating their integration into everyday life for non-invasive or minimally invasive monitoring. However, as these emerging technologies approach broader real-world adoption, questions persist regarding long-term stability, reproducibility, calibration strategies, and the translation of sensor innovations into reliable field and clinical solutions.
While pioneering studies have demonstrated the promise of wearable electrochemical devices — including skin patches, microneedle arrays, and smart contact lenses — for monitoring a variety of health biomarkers from sweat, saliva, tear fluid, and interstitial fluids, as well as for detecting agriculturally relevant analytes and plant health indicators, several practical and technical barriers remain. There are ongoing debates concerning optimal material selection, for example the utility of nanostructured and carbon-based sensing elements, integration with flexible substrates, and strategies for multiplexed or self-powered operation. Recent research has also focused on overcoming limitations in device calibration, real-time data processing, and system integration, with notable progress seen in laboratory and early-stage field trials. Nonetheless, comprehensive studies addressing these challenges, especially in dynamic, real-world environments, are still needed.
This Research Topic aims to highlight and accelerate advances in the design, fabrication, and application of wearable electrochemical sensors with the goal of bridging fundamental research and practical deployment. We seek contributions that delve into new sensing materials, device architectures, analytical enhancements, and field validation. Special attention is given to innovations that improve reliability, usability, and scalability, facilitating the translation of laboratory insights into tangible benefits for health management and agricultural productivity. Translational issues surrounding the path from laboratory prototype to clinical or field-ready device are a particular focus of this collection. Articles on biocompatibility, toxicity concerns, long-term operation in real biofluids, waste management, regulatory and commercialization challenges are welcome.
Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:
- Flexible and stretchable electrode designs
- Nanostructured, carbon-based, and hybrid sensing materials
- Biointerfaces for selective and stable analyte detection
- Wireless, self-powered, and integrated sensor platforms
- Multiplexed biosensing and data integration solutions
- Strategies for calibration, reproducibility, and quality assurance
- Real-world case studies in healthcare and agriculture
- Challenges and pathways for clinical or field translation
- Biocompatibility, regulatory, and commercialization considerations
Article types and fees
This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:
- Editorial
- FAIR² Data
- FAIR² DATA Direct Submission
- Mini Review
- Original Research
- Perspective
- Review
Articles that are accepted for publication by our external editors following rigorous peer review incur a publishing fee charged to Authors, institutions, or funders.
Keywords: wearable biosensors, electrochemical sensing, personalized medicine, precision agriculture, real-world validation
Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.
