Advances in intelligent fiber-optic microfluidic-embedded technologies for empowered sensing performance: a review

The convergence of Lab-on-Fiber (LoF) technology, microfluidics, and artificial intelligence (AI) is emerging as a new and powerful paradigm for next-generation intelligent sensing systems. Combining AI with LoF-microfluidic devices can cover the residual gap by enhancing precise microfluidic control, data analysis, adaptive calibration, and predictive sensing, thereby opening new pathways for intelligent, miniaturized, reliable, and multifunctional devices for biomedical sensing and environmental monitoring. Microfluidic technologies leverage high-precision and flow rate-controlled sample delivery, reagent optimization, and simple prototyping, which make them excellent for real-time sensing. LoF devices showcase unique light control at the nanoscale level and their integration onto microfluidic chips empowers signal-to-noise ratio and, ultimately, limit of detection in a controlled environment. Advances in materials science and engineering have allowed the realization of different types of nanostructures which are integrated onto fiber sensors whose performance can be optimally tuned to detect a variety of markers and molecules. However, open challenges still exist, such as scalability, reproducibility of results, detection of multiple targets, effective compensation of interfering parameters and fast data processing. Innovative AI-driven solutions and novel functional bio-/materials are being developed to overcome these barriers and possibly meet the future demands. A roadmap toward intelligent LoF-microfluidic platforms is finally envisioned.