Korean researchers develop nanotechnology tattoos as health monitoring devices | Science & Technology News

Researchers in South Korea are developing a new health monitoring device in the form of an electronic tattoo that can automatically alert the wearer to potential health problems.

The research team at Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology has created an electronic tattoo ink made of liquid metal and carbon nanotubes that effectively functions as a bioelectrode.

The device could be used to read the wearer’s vitals if connected to biosensors, including an electrocardiogram, for example.

Along with heart rate, it can be used to read glucose or lactate levels for people with diabetes or sepsis.

But the researchers plan to eliminate the biosensors and design the electronic tattoo as a completely standalone device.

“In the future, what we hope to do is connect a wireless chip that integrates this ink, so that we can communicate or we can send signals back and forth between our body and an external device. outside,” said Professor Steve Park, project leader. .

The e-tattoo ink is non-invasive and does not require a needle to be implanted underneath the skin like traditional tattoos.

It’s made from particles based on gallium, a soft, silvery metal also used in semiconductors and thermometers, while platinum-decorated carbon nanotubes help conduct electricity while improving the durability of the metal. tattoo.

“When it is applied to the skin, even when rubbed, the tattoo does not come off, which is not possible with liquid metal only,” Professor Park said.