Descrizione del progetto
Dare un senso alla nuova tecnologia «e-skin»
All’interno del mercato della tecnologia indossabile, la pelle elettronica è una delle categorie più discusse. Un’elettronica versatile, estensibile e autorigenerante in grado di imitare le funzionalità della pelle umana, può rivelarsi utile per cose come i sistemi per la somministrazione di farmaci sulla pelle e le protesi intelligenti per dare agli amputati il senso del tatto. Tuttavia, mancano materiali piezoelettrici completamente biocompatibili, necessari per qualsiasi sistema e-skin. Il progetto PepZoSkin, finanziato dall’UE, svilupperà un dispositivo e-skin ultrasottile, flessibile e autoalimentato che combina materiali piezoelettrici innovativi, microelettronica e sensori per applicazioni indossabili e impiantabili. Ha sintetizzato materiali a base di peptidi radicalmente nuovi con prestazioni piezoelettriche, proprietà meccaniche e biocompatibilità intrinseca eccezionali. Utilizzerà questi materiali come strato attivo nei dispositivi di rilevamento di base.
Obiettivo
Electronic skin is seen as the next generation of wearable technology, ideally made of thin, self-powered, self-healing and flexible electronics able to mimic or augment natural skin functionalities.
Smart prostheses to give amputees the sense of touch, completely biocompatible skin patches for wound care, or new on-skin drug delivery systems are only few e-skin applications that are being explored by the research community for the last several years.
The main problems hindering the e-skin revolution are the lack of fully biocompatible piezoelectric materials, which are the basic component of any e-skin system, and the unavailability of adequate energy harvesting technology, which allows realizing an extremely compact and energy autonomous device.
In the PepZoSkin project, we propose to develop an ultra-thin, flexible, self-powered e-skin device that combines innovative piezoelectric materials, microelectronics and sensors for wearable and implantable applications.
In the frame of the main ERC Grant, we have synthesized radically new peptide-based materials with exceptional piezoelectric performance, unprecedented mechanical properties, and inherent biocompatibility, and used these materials as an active layer in basic sensing devices. In this PoC project, based on these promising results, we will further develop these basic devices to a TRL5 self-powered biocompatible core technology for an e-skin device.
Our vision is to turn our core material into a key component of next generation compact and self-powered wearable and implantable systems, targeting biomedical applications as a market entry point.
The e-skin market is expected to be worth more than 15 B$ by 2028. During this PoC project, together with medical, business and industrial stakeholders, we will focus on the validation of the technological and business feasibility of turning our e-skin prototype into a marketable competitive product, which will be developed and commercialized by a spin-off comp
Campo scientifico
- natural sciencescomputer and information sciencesinternetinternet of things
- engineering and technologyelectrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineeringelectronic engineeringsensors
- natural sciencesphysical scienceselectromagnetism and electronicsmicroelectronics
- medical and health sciencesmedical biotechnologyimplants
- engineering and technologyelectrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineeringelectrical engineeringpiezoelectrics
Programma(i)
Argomento(i)
Meccanismo di finanziamento
ERC-POC-LS - ERC Proof of Concept Lump Sum PilotIstituzione ospitante
69978 Tel Aviv
Israele