Wearable biosensing platforms using 2D native protein fibers
Abstract
Wearable biosensors can offer versatile methods for physiological monitoring in several defense applications (e.g. battlefield environment sensing, soldier health monitoring, soldier therapeutics, and combat casualty care). However, conventional approaches are inefficient and even advanced nanotechnology-based wearable technologies are often inappropriate for realizing scalable wearable biosensors. Fortuitously, we have recently found that natural protein fibers, which have reduced dimensionality in the nanoarchitecture, allow for unprecedentedly strong lightmatter interactions and efficient nanomaterial hybridizations. Thus, our proposed research is centered on the inception of capitalizing on these superior physical properties for versatile wearable and flexible biosensors to analyzing easily accessible body fluids. We will lay the groundwork for exploiting natural protein fibers as low-dimensional photonic nanomaterials to realize embedded biosensors. To characterize biosensing performance, we will conduct a series of numerical and experimental studies in a simple geometry, which can further be woven or knitted into large-area textiles. We expect to demonstrate a simple passive mechanism for detecting subtle nanoscale environmental perturbations and a flexible, yet mechanically strong, biosensing platform with scalable and full integration. We further envision that the proposed biogenic sensing platform could potentially serve as multifunctional fabrics and textiles in a variety of wearable garments and flexible devices.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Sep 21, 2018
- Source ID
- FA23861614114
Entities
People
- Young Jun Kim
Organizations
- Air Force Office of Scientific Research
- United States Air Force
- University of Virginia