Hi-tech is the future biodegradable environmentally friendly - The researchers have called "transient" is a new class of components programmed to fade in time, after having served their purpose. The whole from an ancient material, silk. Among the most interesting applications is the biomedical devices that are absorbed into the body without having to be removed
Components small, durable, completely biodegradable, "time": programmable, ie, to dissolve after performing its function hi-tech, with a clear conscience: the electronics of the future is already here, the result of a joint effort by several research teams , which brings together multiple skills and a good dose of avvenirismo. Everything from ancient organic material, silk, completely re-invented in a technological, that in his new role, a glimpse into the near future medical implants perfectly absorbed by the body without having to be surgically removed. But even consumer products such as mobile phones programmed to 'disappear when they become obsolete, thus avoiding the accumulation of polluting waste.
The applications of this electronic biodegradable and very "green" are described in a paper in Science led by Hwang Suk-Won American University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaing, together with Hu Tao and colleagues at Tufts and Northwestern University in United States. And it is a revolution: the devices of the latest generation are made with the traditional electronics materials, such as silicon and magnesium, in ultrathin form, which is then encapsulated in a casing of silk. Yes, just one of the ties, but technologically reinvented and transformed into a new material that is extremely flexible, resistant and biocompatible.
Hi-tech is the future biodegradable environmentally friendly
The approach is the opposite of what has so far led electronics, designed to produce items that last forever, stable performance. "With the'' electronic transient - so researchers have called -" flips the perspective, "said Fiorenzo Omenetto, professor of biomedical engineering at Tufts School of Engineering, one of the creators John Rogers with experiment.
He arrived in the United States after a degree and a doctorate in Pavia, Omenetto explores the potential value of the silk "deconstructed" and high-tech, from the lens. "The new devices perform fully in line with those offered by electronics traditional" he explains, "but they have the advantage of completely reabsorbed into the environment at a given time programmable, which can range from a few minutes to a few years," says .
The biomedical applications are among the most promising in the experiment described in Science, Omenetto and colleagues successfully tested in vivo in mice, a biomedical device made with the new material that has proven effective in fighting infection killing , with heat, bacteria, and is absorbed in biological tissue after a few weeks. The range of possibilities that these new devices open is very wide: in medicine is thought to diagnostics custom, to systems capable of controlling in depth if a fracture is healing properly, to elements capable of releasing drugs also within the body, to time, which do not need then to be removed. Checking, in fact, precisely the structure of the housing of silk, which can be used to wrap components of different type, researchers are able to decide the expiry date of microcircuits: minutes, days, weeks or even years, depending intended use.
Thinking about the environment and the huge amount of waste left to languish for years in landfills, biodegradable electronics advantages are enormous: the case of mobile phones, which, instead of being sent to be destroyed or sent in countries developing, may dissolve with no damage, once they have completed their task.
Components small, durable, completely biodegradable, "time": programmable, ie, to dissolve after performing its function hi-tech, with a clear conscience: the electronics of the future is already here, the result of a joint effort by several research teams , which brings together multiple skills and a good dose of avvenirismo. Everything from ancient organic material, silk, completely re-invented in a technological, that in his new role, a glimpse into the near future medical implants perfectly absorbed by the body without having to be surgically removed. But even consumer products such as mobile phones programmed to 'disappear when they become obsolete, thus avoiding the accumulation of polluting waste.
The applications of this electronic biodegradable and very "green" are described in a paper in Science led by Hwang Suk-Won American University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaing, together with Hu Tao and colleagues at Tufts and Northwestern University in United States. And it is a revolution: the devices of the latest generation are made with the traditional electronics materials, such as silicon and magnesium, in ultrathin form, which is then encapsulated in a casing of silk. Yes, just one of the ties, but technologically reinvented and transformed into a new material that is extremely flexible, resistant and biocompatible.
Hi-tech is the future biodegradable environmentally friendly
The approach is the opposite of what has so far led electronics, designed to produce items that last forever, stable performance. "With the'' electronic transient - so researchers have called -" flips the perspective, "said Fiorenzo Omenetto, professor of biomedical engineering at Tufts School of Engineering, one of the creators John Rogers with experiment.
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The biomedical applications are among the most promising in the experiment described in Science, Omenetto and colleagues successfully tested in vivo in mice, a biomedical device made with the new material that has proven effective in fighting infection killing , with heat, bacteria, and is absorbed in biological tissue after a few weeks. The range of possibilities that these new devices open is very wide: in medicine is thought to diagnostics custom, to systems capable of controlling in depth if a fracture is healing properly, to elements capable of releasing drugs also within the body, to time, which do not need then to be removed. Checking, in fact, precisely the structure of the housing of silk, which can be used to wrap components of different type, researchers are able to decide the expiry date of microcircuits: minutes, days, weeks or even years, depending intended use.
Thinking about the environment and the huge amount of waste left to languish for years in landfills, biodegradable electronics advantages are enormous: the case of mobile phones, which, instead of being sent to be destroyed or sent in countries developing, may dissolve with no damage, once they have completed their task.