Monitoring Health With A Graphene Patch

09/04/2019 A graphene band able to monitor health and communicate with smartphones, aims to make devices capable of saving lives, according to the patch’s developers from The Institute of Photonic Sciences (ICFO), a Spain-based partner of Graphene Flagship.

The band can monitor the wearer’s vital signs during exercise or for purposes such as measuring the skin’s hydration when trekking in areas with limited access to water. This way, dehydration can be avoided.

‘Our core technology is the combination of quantum-dots (QDs) with graphene to produce a highly efficient photodetector’, ICFO Research Engineer Dr Stijn Goossens said. ‘The metal-chalcogenide type QDs act as a broadband light absorber while graphene's excellent electronic properties are used to create a high gain, and responsivity, photoconductor structure.’

As well as the health band, ICFO launched four other products with similar technologies, including a UV patch (pictured). ‘While all of our prototypes are based on the same light detection technology, its implementation differs significantly,’ said ICFO Business Developer at the Knowledge and Technology Transfer Unit, Antonios Oikonomou.

According to Goossens, other technologies available use green light to measure physiological characteristics such as heart rate. But such technology is only sensitive to small movements during daily routines, which hinders its accuracy and ability to measure vital signs.

‘Our technology can use a broad range of light, from visible to infrared, meaning the light can reach different depths of tissue and thus extract more detailed physiological information,’ Goossens said.  ‘Moreover, the flexibility of the material could allow product design with a focus on conformity, minimising any errors that could be attributed to the movements of the device with respect to the measurement location.’

Currently the company is in conversations with potential markets about the product. The team is also identifying market needs and what resources may be needed to meet those demands. Oikonomou said a venture to make evaluation kits available for beta testers and early adopters is planned to be launched by the end of this year.

Recycling and sustainability

The developers are aiming to make the patch disposable, lasting only one week or two. ‘The combination of low-cost design and a non-toxic battery, allows users or medical providers to enjoy such an advantage. However, for the moment, it is not implemented as such,’ Oikonomou said.

ICFO Professor and Group Leader at The Institute of Photonic Sciences, Dr Frank Koppens, said as the patch will be disposable, the consumer should go through a recycling process when disposing it, similar to how other materials are recycled. ‘Then, certified service providers would take care of the rest,’ he said.

Koppens added that the prototypes were designed with optimum sustainability in mind, ‘as they aim to demonstrate that the ability to measure multiple vital signs in an affordable device can lead to the enhancement of users' well-being’.

Next steps

To make the technology ready for market, the team will have to work to reach the full potential of their core technology, Koppens said.

‘This requires both resources and efficient communication with potential customers and partners,’ he said. ‘This is precisely the reason why we are interested in reaching the market as fast as possible and focussing our efforts in a solution that we can provide with our current and existing capabilities.’






Source: https://bit.ly/2IEDFWV, via Materials World