Published May 2016 | Version v1
Journal article Metadata-only

Triboelectric liquid volume sensor for self-powered lab-on-chip applications

Creators

  • 1. NUS Suzhou Research Institute (NUSRI), Suzhou Industrial Park, Suzhou 215123 (China)
  • 2. Center for Sensors and MEMS, National University of Singapore, 4 Engineering Drive 3, 117576 (Singapore)
  • 3. Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, National University of Singapore, 4 Engineering Drive 3, 117576 (Singapore)
  • 4. Department of Pharmacy, National University of Singapore, 18 Science Drive 4, 117543 (Singapore)
  • 5. Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Technology & Systems, Ministry of Education, Defense Key Disciplines Lab of Novel Micro-nano Devices and Systems Technology, International R&D center of Micro-nano Systems and New Materials Technology, Chongqing University, 400044 (China)
  • 6. Beijing Institute of Nanoenergy and Nanosystems, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100083 (China)
  • 7. School of Materials Science and Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia 30332 (United States)

Description

Highlights: • Triboelectric energy harvester based liquid volume sensor is developed for precise control of drug dose. • Triboelectric based liquid volume sensor is integrated with microfluidic control system for volume monitoring functions. • Triboelectric energy harvester of stack-layer design is added as a power source for active components to be integrated in the future. Technology for enabling drug delivery with precise control is strongly demanded by patients with diabetes or other chronic diseases. More intelligent functions such as drug loading and delivery in controllable manner without requiring electrical power will make low-cost drug delivery patches come true. One of the promising candidates is triboelectric technology which has been deployed as nanogenerators and self-powered glucose sensors recently. In this paper, the drug delivery is triggered by finger-pressing on a polymer based micropump. Considering that the finger-pressing should be an action of very low frequency, e.g., 1 to 2 Hz, triboelectric energy harvester (TEH) based on contact-separation mode between patterned biocompatible polymer layer and Aluminum (Al) film is integrated with microneedles on a flexible skin patch. Leveraging triboelectric materials and compatible fabrication technology, we successfully develop a self-powered flexible skin patch for transdermal insulin delivery with novel liquid volume sensor to monitor delivered drug volume and flexible energy harvester using the same triboelectric mechanism. With 3stacked polymer layers, the TEH of 2×2 cm2 area generates 33 μW by gentle finger tapping at 2 Hz. Such energy could be harvested even during drug delivery via finger pressing. In future we can further store harvested energy in a battery to provide required operation power for other active components or glucose sensors integrated in this skin patch. The developed flexible skin patch for transdermal drug delivery is further validated by in vivo experiments in rats.

Availability note (English)

Available from http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.nanoen.2016.02.054

Additional details

Identifiers

DOI
10.1016/j.nanoen.2016.02.054;
PII
S2211285516300064;

Publishing Information

Journal Title
Nano Energy (Print)
Journal Volume
23
Journal Page Range
p. 80-88
ISSN
2211-2855

INIS

Country of Publication
Netherlands
Country of Input or Organization
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
INIS RN
51106793
Subject category
S60: APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES; S77: NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY; S37: INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY;
Descriptors DEI
COMMERCIAL BUILDINGS; CONTROL SYSTEMS; DRUG DELIVERY; LIQUIDS; POLYMERS; RADIATION DOSES; SENSORS; SKIN
Descriptors DEC
BODY; BUILDINGS; DOSES; FLUIDS; ORGANS

Optional Information

Copyright
Copyright (c) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.