Tech Briefs Magazine - February 2023 - 36

Sensors
ers increased the stiffness at the bottom
of each micropyramid, so even when the
sensor is stretched and deformed, the
micropyramids stay intact. In fact, even
when the material is stretched up to 50
percent - the level of stretching generally
needed on a human body - the sensor
retained its high level of sensitivity.
The sensor also proved to be robust, not
losing any of its sensing capabilities after
being stretched 500 times.
The applications for a stretchable
pressure sensor are wide-ranging, but
Wang points to the recent COVID-19
pandemic as proof for their immediate
need. Many people stuck at home were
relegated to talking with their doctors
through virtual telemedicine and could
not get the diagnostic or therapeutic
care that they needed.
In the future, a robot could provide
Stretchable pressure sensors like the one developed by Assistant Professor Sihong Wang (center)
and PhD students Qi Su (left) and Yang Li (right) could enable long-sought after applications in soft
robotics. (Image: University of Chicago)
such a service. Wang and his team tested
their sensor on a soft robotic hand, which
was able to use the pressure sensor to
grasp a human wrist and record a pulse
waveform. Such a robot could also use
the pressure sensor to provide physical
therapy to patients by putting controlled
massage pressure onto body parts.
The sensor could also act as an electronic
skin on a prosthesis. For example,
a soft robotic prosthetic hand could ultimately
sense the pressure its fingers feel
when picking up an object.
Wang and his team are working to
add multiple sensors to the robot hand
- expanding them to multiple fingers
and adding new sorts of sensors that
can feel texture - and are beginning
collaborations to design future prosthetic
applications.
For more information, contact Emily
Ayshford at 773-834-2943.
Nanoelectronic Sensor to Simultaneously Measure
Electrical, Mechanical Activity in Heart Cells
Pioneering UMass work could lead to more precise biomedical devices for cardiac studies.
University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA
U
sing a suspended nanowire, a University
of Massachusetts research
team has created a tiny sensor that can
simultaneously measure electrical and
mechanical cellular responses in cardiac
tissue - a first.
Team member and Electrical and
Computer Engineering (ECE) Ph.D. student
Hongyan Gao described it as " a new
tool for improved cardiac studies that
has the potential for leading-edge applications
in cardiac-disease experiments. "
Nanowire
Cell
" A comprehensive assessment of cellular
status requires knowledge of both mechanical
and electrical properties at the
same time, " said Team Leader Jun Yao,
ECE Assistant Professor and a Biomedical
Engineering adjunct.
These two properties are usually measured
by different sensors, and the degree
to which the cell's function is disturbed increases
with more sensors used.
The sensor is constructed from a
3D-suspended semiconducting silicon
nanowire. Much smaller than a single
cell, the nanowire can tightly patch onto
the cell membrane and " listen to " cellular
activities. It also has unique properties to
convert " heard " bioelectrical and biomechanical
activities into electrical sensing
signals for detection.
A schematic of the sensor structure and cell-sensor interface. (Image: umass.edu)
36
" Other than developing integrated
biochips, our next step is to integrate the
nanosensors on free-standing scaffolds to
innervate in vitro tissue for deep-tissue studies, "
Yao said. " In the long run, we hope
the nanosensors can be safely delivered to
living cardiac systems for improved health
monitoring and early disease diagnosis. "
Yao noted that the concept of merging
multiple sensing functions in one device
will also broaden the capabilities of general
bio-interface engineering.
For more information, contact
Melinda Rose at melindarose@
umass.edu; 413-545-2990.
www.techbriefs.com
Tech Briefs, February 2023

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Tech Briefs Magazine - February 2023

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