Medical Design Briefs - January 2022 - 30

had multiple applications, they were not
yet biocompatible, that is, not usable in
contact with skin and blood. Creating a
polymer that would be both biocompatible
and self-healing was the next step,
and one that was achieved by postdoctoral
fellow Dr. Ning Tang.
The new polymer is structured like a
molecular zipper, made from sulfur and
nitrogen: the surgeon's scalpel opens it;
then pressed together, it closes and
holds fast. Integrated carbon nanotubes
provide electric conductivity and the
integration of the sensor array. In experiments,
wounds closed with the smart
dressing healed as fast as those closed
with sutures and showed reduced rates
of infection.
" It's a new approach to wound treatment, "
says Prof. Haick. " We introduce
the advances of the fourth industrial
revolution - smart interconnected
devices, into the day-to-day treatment
of patients. "
Prof. Haick is the head of the
Laboratory for Nanomaterial-based
Devices (LNBD) and the Dean of
Undergraduate Studies at the Technion.
For more information, visit www.
technion.ac.il.
New Battery Technology Could Power Wearable, SelfSustaining
Fever Detector
The device harnesses the
thermal energy generated
by body heat.
Texas A&M
College Station, TX
Public temperature checks have be -
come common practice around the
world during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Researchers at Texas A&M University
hope to make it possible to check the
temperatures of large groups of people
more quickly and at a less expensive cost
than allowed by current methods.
Choongho Yu, professor and Sallie
and Don Davis '61 Faculty Fellow II in
the J. Mike Walker '66 Department of
Mechanical Engineering,
is working
alongside his students to harness the
thermal energy generated by body heat
to power a small, self-sustaining electronic
device capable of detecting fever in its
wearer. The team's research was recently
published in Nature Communications.
If successful, Yu says such a device
could benefit a large number of people
- especially when implemented in a
public setting - by quickly and efficiently
identifying fever.
" The fever detector can be distributed
to many unspecified people at
public places at a low price, and this
technique could be helpful in the early
and fast detection of fever commonly
observed from a viral infection such as
COVID-19, SARS, MERS, and swine
flu, " Yu says.
Graduate student Yufan Zhang, who
works with Yu on the project, says that
while fever detection can serve as an
effective way to minimize viral transmission
during a pandemic, a cheap, visible
and self-sustainable technique is needed
to accomplish this goal.
30
Cov
Potentially replacing individual temperature checks in public settings, new wearable technology being
developed at Texas A&M could enable low-cost, fast fever detection in the person wearing the
device. (Credit: Getty Images)
" Thermal energy scavenging shows
great potential since an output voltage
can be obtained by a temperature difference
supplied by the fever, " Zhang says.
" To visualize the temperature changes,
an electrochromic fever detector has
been fabricated and connected to the
thermal energy harvester. "
Using new principles of thermo- hydroelectrochemical
energy conversion, Yu
and his team are working to develop an
effective method of providing charge to
their fever detection device by harnessing
the thermal energy typically wasted by its
user via the corrosion properties of carbon
steel electrodes.
" Our device is based on carbon steel
corrosion to generate voltage and current, "
Yu says. " The lifetime of our
device depends on the speed of the corrosion
process. "
www.medicaldesignbriefs.com
ToC
Given the typical rate of corrosion for
carbon steel, Yu says the amount utilized
by their device could last for more
than a decade.
While the team is still working to
improve the power and current of the
device, the results so far have been
promising, with the observed thermal- toenergy
conversion generating an
unprecedented 87 mV/°C. This has provided
a few volts - large enough to
operate typical wearable electronics -
by connecting between four to eight
devices in a series, unlike conventional
thermoelectric devices that require at
least 1000 devices to get an equivalent
voltage.
This article was written by Steve
Kuhlmann, Texas A&M University College
of Engineering. For more information, visit
https://today.tamu.edu.
Medical Design Briefs, January 2022

http://www.technion.ac.il https://today.tamu.edu http://www.medicaldesignbriefs.com http://info.hotims.com/82317-803

Medical Design Briefs - January 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Medical Design Briefs - January 2022