- Researchers at the Technical University of Munich (TUM), Germany, have developed a film that acts as a biological bandage.
- It also helps wounds heal faster, repels bacteria, dampens inflammation.
- Furthermore, it releases active pharmaceutical ingredients in a targeted manner and eventually dissolves on its own.
In a major finding, researchers at the Technical University of Munich (TUM), Germany, have developed a film or bandage that acts like a biological bandage. It also helps wounds heal fasterrepels bacteria, dampens inflammation, releases active pharmaceutical ingredients in a targeted way, and finally dissolves on its own.
They are also suitable for soft tissue injuries
With its unique all-in-one design that uses mucins, molecules naturally found in the mucous membranes of humans, this unique biobandage It could also be used in surgery to protect internal wounds that are inaccessible after closure of a incision for surgery. They are also suitable for soft tissue injuries such as the tongue or sensitive surfaces such as the intestines.
Although several materials are addressing the medical necessity, here is an all-in-one solution developed by the German team led by Oliver Lieleg, professor of biomechanics at TUM. The biopolymer film or bandage it combines a wide range of different functions with very promising results.
electronic skin
Similarly, medical technology materials current are increasingly giving life to new inventions that the contours of the medical field can change dramatically in a few decades. Body film or a thin biological film on our hand can help us interact with machines or monitor our health parameters constantly.
The skin is the largest sensory organ and the protective layer of human beings, as well as acting as an intermediary in feel various sensory stimuli and reports information on humidity, temperature and pressure to the brain instantly.
Various fields of application are now opening up for the hybrid material similar to the skin that can detect microorganisms and report them to the brain. They are also in prosthetic project that give the user information about temperature or humidity, or robots that can perceive their environment with greater sensitivity.
Among all these, here is a smart skin that stands out with a decisive advantage: the sensory nanorods, the “smart core” of the material, are produced using a steam-based manufacturing process, which is already an established process in integrated circuit production plants.
Therefore, smart skin production can be easily scaled up and implemented.
Anna Maria Coclite, a researcher at the Institute of Solid State Physics at TU Graza, says that material with such multi-sensory properties is “a kind of ‘Holy Grail’ in medical technology using intelligent artificial materials. Robotics and smart prosthetics especially would benefit from a better integrated and more accurate sensing system similar to human skin, she says.
Coclite recently succeeded in developing the hybrid material three-in-one “smart skin” using a novel process, according to the research published in the journal Advanced Materials Technologies.
With 2,000 individual sensors per square millimeter, discovered that this hybrid smart skin is even more sensitive than the tip of a human finger. Each of these sensors consists of a unique combination of materials: a smart polymer hydrogel inside and a piezoelectric zinc oxide shell.
“The hydrogel can absorb water and therefore expands with changes in humidity and temperature. In doing so, it exerts pressure on the piezoelectric zinc oxide, which responds to this and all other mechanical stresses with an electrical signal,” says Anna Maria Coclite.
The result is a thin biofilm or wafer-like bandage that reacts simultaneously to force, moisture and temperature with extremely high spatial resolution and emits the corresponding electronic signals.
“The first samples of artificial skin have a thickness of six micrometers, or 0.006 millimeters. But it could be even thinner,” she says. By comparison, the human epidermis is 0.03 to 2 millimeters thick. Human skin senses things about a square millimeter in size. The individual sensor layers are very thin and at the same time equipped with sensor elements that cover the entire surface.
Smart skin has a thousand times lower resolution and can record objects or microorganisms too small for human skin. This was made possible by researchers who combined three known methods of physical chemistry for the first time: a chemical vapor deposition for the hydrogel material, an atomic layer deposition for the zinc oxide, and nanoimprint lithography for the polymer template.
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