New Polymer Could Help Health Monitor Development

Purdue University scientists have developed a new type of polymer that could prove useful in the world of health monitoring.

Most polymers don’t conduct electricity, but a new type from Purdue labs does. Chemical engineering professor Brian Boudouris says it’s also transparent, soft, stable and can be produced easily. 

"Really the advantage there is, that we’re really good at making polymers that are not conjugated for a variety of applications," says Boudouris.  

Including electronics like smartphones. 

Purdue assistant professor Brett Savoie says that there’s also excitement about the possible use of this polymer for personal bio-monitoring sensors. 

"It's also known to be biocompatible we think there are a lot of new applications where traditional plastic electronics couldn’t be scaled to," says Savoie. 

Those could include patches to monitor glucose or other wearable biomonitors.

The Purdue-based Materials Innovation for Bioelectronics from Intrinsically-stretchable Organics, or Mi-Bio, hopes to advance development.  Savoie says the promise lies in the production. 

"In terms of magnitude, this is the first demonstration of conductivity in these systems at these levels," Savoie says.

The scientists are looking to further development through a patent and commercialization.