Self-powered and wearable biosensors for healthcare

The integration of energy collection and storage modules with wearable biosensors can drive the entire biosensing system to obtain human health information in a self-powered fashion, without external charging. Research advances in the development of wearable devices have demonstrated their promising applications for body status monitoring. Herein, an overview of electrochemical biosensors and their integration into self-powered and wearable devices for health-care applications is provided. The sensing mechanisms of the commonly adopted electrochemical biosensors are first summarized, followed by the research progress on self-powered biosensing systems based on various energy harvesting methods. To further understand the effective utilization of energy from different harvesting and conversion methods with desired power output, power management strategies to ensure stable and continuous energy supply are introduced. Finally, the key challenges that currently limit the practical applications of self-powered devices are discussed, along with the prospects of monitoring our health status with wearable biosensors in a convenient and personalized manner. • Electrochemical biosensors based on different sensing methods are introduced and summarized. • Research advances on self-powered and wearable sensing systems based on different energy harvesting strategies are discussed. • Power management strategies adopted in self-powered electronic systems for health-care applications are reviewed.