As if it were a science fiction movie, the chemical engineer and founder of Pyrames Zhenan Bao is working with a team of researchers on electronic skins. For now, they are developing a soft band that can be adapted to the wrist or foot of a baby, this in order to measure the blood pressure of the smallest in intensive care units in order to have greater control with what they are given. happens.
This technology allows continuous monitoring of blood flow, almost imitating an arterial pathway, without the need to use needles. The band can connect wirelessly to a tablet to be able to track blood pressure fluctuations in real time.
For Bao this band could be the start of a fur tech breakthrough electronic or e-skinssince he imagines that he can develop, together with his team, a device that can correctly evaluate blood pressure, oxygen, glucose levels and temperature in real time.
But in order to create this skin and that it can be used in a wide part of the body, the technology used has to be flexible and extensible, for this reason, scientists have used a molecular technique to create organic polymers.
Polymers are one large molecule that is made up of many monomers that are attached like a long string of paperclips, so researchers can stretch the material to fit the human body.
After three years of work, in March 2022 the team of Bao presented a Test With a light-emitting polymer that glows similar to a light bulb, in a flexible material that can even crumble. For Bao, the uses of electronic skin are endless and would be of great help to current medicine, whether as implants, prostheses or wearable devices.
Meanwhile, the team works on circuits and biodegradable materials.