Corneal Prototype for Terminator

New electronic contact lenses will allow
implement augmented reality functions

DailyTechInfo based on the materials of the UniSA press release puts all eyes on next generation electronics

Despite the large-scale and aggressive advertising campaign, "smart glasses" like Google Glass have not made a successful "take-off" in the market. However, this does not mean that other forms of implementation of augmented reality functions also do not have the right to life. And one of these forms is electronic contact lenses developed by Australian scientists, on the surface of which miniature displays can be made and sensors integrated that control some parameters of the human body's vital activity.

 
Drawing from an article in Applied Materials – VM

This development is based on the results of previous research by scientists from the Institute of Advanced Technologies (Future Industries Institute, FII) of the University of South Australia, who have achieved success in developing technologies for the production of ultrathin conductive film. This reflective coating was originally intended for the production of car windows and "smart" windows that are able to regulate the flow of light entering the room. And now the researchers have expanded the scope of their development with augmented reality and biomedicine functions.

"We initially knew that our thin–film coating technology has many applications, and now we have taken the next step by showing that we can make biologically compatible conductive polymers, structure them at the nanoscale level and grow them on any surface, for example, on the surface of a contact lens," says Drew Evans (Drew Evans), professor at the FII Institute.

The contact lens is based on a fairly ordinary hydrated hydrogel, on the surface of which active areas with increased "stickiness" were created using plasma treatment. PEDOT polymer with special additives was applied to these areas, which increased its electrical conductivity, but did not violate the biological compatibility of this material. As a result, scientists have obtained a contact lens with a complex pattern of conductive tracks on its surface. And this drawing can become the basis of a kind of "printed circuit board" on which any transparent electronic device, microscopic display, sensors of various types or health monitoring devices that register the presence of certain biomarkers will be assembled.

"The fluids that are present on the surface of the eye contain biomarkers indicating the state of human health. In the very near future, we are going to develop and manufacture contact lenses with sensors of various types," says Drew Evans, "But for this we will have to solve a number of side, but no less complex problems associated with providing these sensors with energy, pre–processing signals, with the need for wireless transmission or local display of the information received".

Article by Moser et al. Hydrophilic Organic Electrodes on Flexible Hydrogels is published in the journal ACS Applied Materials – VM.

Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru 15.02.2015