Periodic Reporting for period 1 - STREAM (Smart Textile foR hEAlth Monitoring)
Reporting period: 2020-09-01 to 2022-08-31
Textiles can be used in healthcare applications that monitor patients. With access to all areas of the body, smart textiles can map physiological parameters continuously and over the entire body. The EU-funded STREAM project aims to further develop smart wearables based on advanced optical fibre sensors (OFSs). The project addresses three challenges of OFSs, namely: sensitivity, distributed sensory and production technology. A ‘sensitive cladding’ was developed to allow localised as well as remote responses for external stimulants, such as body temperature. The developed sensors was integrated into textiles to monitor skin temperature. This will be useful in continuous monitoring of body's physiological conditions with potential application in alarming against (sub)cutaneous tumours and cancers.
STREAM project developed a micor-fluidic spinning system capable of producing fibers with fine diameters. The system utilizes biopolymers (alginate, chitosan, poly lactic acid - PLA, poly caprolacton - PCL, etc.) to produce hydrogel optical fibers based on the wet spinning technology. The microfluidic system was built in-house during the project with a device that is controlled through a computer. The microfluidic chip allows a precise mixing of different components and the produced fibers can be customized through their core/shell configuration. STREAM integrated thermochromic materials into the 1D fiber structure transforming it to sensitive fiber that responds to changes in temperature with a change in color. STREAM also produced 2D sensitive membranes based on combinations of these biopolymers and the thermochromic particles. The 2D membranes indicate the temperature change in their environments allowing a visual heatmap of the substrate under the membrane.
STREAM utilizes bio-based polymers to produce sensitive membranes and fibrous materials that indicate the color change of their surroundings. STREAM developed novel microfluidic system that allows the production of optical fibers based on wet processing, rather than the melt extrusion usually used in their production. This has many industrial and environmental advantages over the traditional methods by saving energy and utilizing biodegradable components. Moreover, the membranes produced during STREAM can be used in many medical or industrial applications such as the continuous and power-independent indication of: body's temperature change, packaging that indicates the products preserving temperature or expiration, etc.