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2022

New Wearable Technology - For Plants

Plants can't speak up when they are thirsty. And visual signs, such as shriveling or browning leaves, don't start until most of their water is gone. To detect water loss earlier, researchers have created a wearable sensor for plant leaves. The system wirelessly transmits data to a smartphone app, allowing for remote management of drought stress in gardens and crops.

Electronics Grow on Trees Thanks to Nanocellulose Paper Semiconductors

Semiconducting nanomaterials with 3D network structures have high surface areas and lots of pores that make them excellent for applications involving adsorbing, separating, and sensing. However, simultaneously controlling the electrical properties and creating useful micro- and macro-scale structures, while achieving excellent functionality and end-use versatility, remains challenging.

Lithium's Narrow Paths Limit Batteries

If you could shrink enough for a fantastic voyage across a lithium battery electrode, you'd see the level of charge at every scale is highly uneven. This is not good for the battery's health. Researchers who recognize the problem worked to view in great detail how the various particles in an electrode interact with lithium during use.

World's First Quantum Dot LED Lights Developed from Rice Husks

Milling rice to separate the grain from the husks produces about 100 million tons of rice husk waste globally each year. Scientists searching for a scalable method to fabricate quantum dots have developed a way to recycle rice husks to create the first silicon quantum dot LED light. Their new method transforms agricultural waste into state-of-the-art light-emitting diodes in a low-cost, environmentally friendly way.

Laser Light, Dye and a Nonsurgical Implant Help Overcome Obesity

When dieting and exercise aren't enough, weight-loss surgery can be an effective obesity treatment. But people who don't want surgery have other options, including insertion of an appetite-suppressing balloon or other implant in the stomach. Now, researchers report that they have augmented that procedure in laboratory animals by coating an implant with a laser-activated dye that kills cells producing ghrelin, the "hunger hormone."

Hard-to-Process Plastic Waste Used for Carbon Capture

What seems like a win-win for a pair of pressing environmental problems describes a newly discovered chemical technique to turn waste plastic into an effective carbon dioxide sorbent for industry

New Super Material Could Battle Bullets, Deflect Space Debris

Engineers have created a nanofiber material that outperforms its widely used counterparts — including steel plates and Kevlar fabric — in protecting against high-speed projectile impacts. Basically, it's better than bulletproof.

Colourfully Detecting Stressed Polymer Films, Gels Before They Break

Stretchy films and squishy gels help make wearable electronics, soft robotics and biocompatible tissues a reality. But too much force can cause these polymers to break apart without warning. To detect stress before it's too late, researchers have designed a compound with "wings" that makes these materials change color when they are stretched or crushed.

Graphene Sensor Rapidly Detects Opioid Metabolites in Wastewater

The unique properties of the atom-thick sheet of carbon, known as graphene, enabled a new penny-sized, multiplexed bio-sensor that's the first to detect opioid byproducts in wastewater. The novel device is the first to use graphene-based field effect transistors to detect four different synthetic and natural opioids at once, while shielding them from wastewater's harsh elements.

Squid Skin Inspires UV Radiation Sensing Wearable

The researchers expect that people will use this device to monitor sun exposure, but the sensor also could be used in other situations where there's utility to measuring light exposure. For example, UV radiation is often used to sterilize environments. These stickers could be used to indicate when a surface has been exposed to UV radiation for long enough to be fully sterilized.

E-Nose Could Diagnose Parkinson's by Smelling Skin

Parkinson's disease causes motor symptoms, such as tremors, rigidity and trouble walking, as well as non-motor symptoms, including depression and dementia. Although there's no cure, early diagnosis and treatment can improve one's quality of life, relieve symptoms and prolong survival. However, the disease usually isn't identified until patients develop motor symptoms, and by that time, they've already experienced irreversible neuron loss.

Wrapping Droplets in Graphene for Printed Microchips, Wearable Sensors

New research from physicists will 'significantly advance' the new technology area of liquid electronics, enhancing the functionality and sustainability of potential applications in printed electronics, wearable health monitors and even batteries.

A New Technique for Making Wearable Sensors

Engineers have developed a new technique for making wearable sensors that enables medical researchers to prototype test new designs much faster and at a far lower cost than existing methods.

A Bioelectronic Tongue "Tastes" Sweetness

Candy, cookies, juices. Just about everyone likes sweet treats, but what one person thinks tastes too sugary, another might think is just right. This variability makes it challenging to develop new foods and beverages, so companies have sought a more objective method. Now, researchers have developed an ultrasensitive bioelectronic tongue that measures sweetness by mimicking human taste buds.

Insulin Patch Sticks Inside a Person's Cheek

Managing blood sugar levels requires round-the-clock attention for people diagnosed with diabetes. A more healthful diet and increased physical activity can help, but many with the condition also need to take regular shots of insulin — the primary hormone that regulates sugar. To deliver this drug in a less invasive way, researchers report a prototype insulin-loaded patch that comfortably sticks to the inside of a person's cheek.

Advanced Composites Solutions

Advanced Composites Solutions (ACS) is an Italian composite component manufacturer founded in 2014. IDTechEx spoke with CEO Roberto Catenaro on their hollow composite manufacturing services.

Wearable Air Sampler Assesses Personal Exposure to SARS-CoV-2

Masks, social distancing, proper hygiene and ventilation can help reduce the transmission of COVID-19 in public places, but even with these measures, scientists have detected airborne SARS-CoV-2 in indoor settings. Now, researchers have developed a passive air sampler clip that can help assess personal exposure to SARS-CoV-2, which could be especially helpful for workers in high-risk settings, such as restaurants or health care facilities.

Windows That Outsmart the Elements

New research takes energy efficient windows a step further by proposing a new "smart window" design that would harvest the sun's energy in the winter to warm the house and reflect it in the summer to keep it cool.

Immuno-CRISPR Assay Could Help Diagnose Kidney Transplant Rejection

When a patient receives a kidney transplant, doctors carefully monitor them for signs of rejection in several ways, including biopsy. However, this procedure is invasive and can only detect issues at a late stage. Now, researchers have developed a CRISPR-based assay that can sensitively and non-invasively detect a biomarker of acute kidney rejection in urine. This could someday help diagnose rejection earlier and without a biopsy.

Devising New Meat Alternatives with 3D printing — And Cocoa Butter

No longer just a dream of vegetarians and vegans, fake meat is becoming more widely available in grocery stores and restaurants. And more options are almost certainly on the way. One team has developed a new combination of plant-based ingredients tailored for 3D printing meat alternatives. Their most successful recipes required an odd-sounding addition: cocoa butter, derived from cocoa beans of chocolate fame.

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