한밭대학교

- Recognized for the design of wearable SERS sensors to detect cortisol in sweat using metal nanostructures transferred onto electrospun fibers

□ Hanbat National University (President Oh Yong-jun) announced that Lee Ye-gyu, a Master's student in the Department of Mechanical Engineering (Advised by Professor Ha Ji-hwan), won the Best Poster Presentation Award at 'The Society of Micro and Nano Systems 2026 Spring Conference' held at the Jeju International Convention Center (ICC) from the 25th to the 27th.

 ○ The Society of Micro and Nano Systems is a leading academic organization in Korea established for academic advancement and technological innovation in the fields of devices, materials, processes, and systems at the micro and nano scales.

 ○ This Spring Conference was held concurrently with 'The 28th Korean MEMS (Micro Electro Mechanical Systems) Conference', and it plays a pivotal role every year in sharing and disseminating outstanding research achievements and cutting-edge nanotechnology in related fields.

□ Graduate student Lee Ye-gyu was recognized for the excellence of his research presented at this conference under the theme of 'Metal Nanostructures transferred onto Electrospun Fibers for Wearable SERS-Based Point-of-Care Cortisol Diagnosis'.

 ○ This study proposed a technology that can non-invasively monitor cortisol, a key biomarker indicating stress levels, in real-time in daily life by utilizing a fiber-based sensor.

 ○ The conventional cortisol detection method, ELISA, used blood or urine samples and had limitations in point-of-care testing, such as taking 3 to 5 hours for analysis and requiring reactions to occur externally.

 ○ To address this issue, this study designed a sensing platform capable of detecting cortisol directly from sweat by utilizing Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering (SERS) and the breathable characteristics of electrospun fibers.

□ The research team introduced an electrostatic induction nano-transfer printing technology to develop a process that stably integrates gold (Au) nanostructures onto flexible and highly permeable electrospun thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) fibers without applying heat or pressure.

 ○ When the proposed sensor comes into contact with sweat, the two layers of nanostructures meet due to the capillary effect, forming a strong electromagnetic hotspot, and precisely measuring the Raman signal that changes according to the cortisol concentration.

 ○ In particular, this platform is designed to enable direct diagnosis from raw sweat samples without any separate microfluidic channels or pumps, and has the advantages of excellent wearability and superior breathability by using flexible fiber materials.

□ Advising Professor Ha Ji-hwan of Hanbat National University stated, "This research achievement proposes a solid foundation for real-time in vitro diagnostic healthcare monitoring that can be extended not only to the management of stress-related diseases but also to the detection of various disease-related biomarkers."