New Material CareGum: Can Promote Rehabilitation and Nonverbal Communication Development

2024-01-25

An experimental new material can help injured people recover and enable people who cannot speak to "speak" and other potential uses. In addition, it also has high elasticity, conductivity, and self-healing properties. This experimental material is called CareGum. CareGum was developed by scientists from the Technical University of Denmark and is a hydrogel primarily made from fibrin (from natural silk) and oxidized graphene.

The latter is the oxidized form of graphene, which is in turn an atomically thick thin sheet composed of carbon atoms connected in a honeycomb like pattern.

CareGum not only has strong stretchability, conductivity, and self-healing ability when cut, but also can be molded, 3D printed, biocompatible, sticky to various substances, and has low production costs. Considering these advantages, researchers believe that it can be used for implantable biomedical sensors that will be attached to bones, heart tissue, or other muscle tissue.

In addition, it can also be incorporated into "smart" sensors for fabric or skin adhesion, tracking the movement of recuperating patients by detecting resistance changes that occur during CareGum deformation. Through this approach, it will also be possible to ensure that patients undergo proper rehabilitation exercises.

Following the same approach, scientists have created a prototype of a "biomimetic glove" that can monitor the wearer's hand movements using CareGum straps along each finger. When a person communicates in sign language through gestures, a connected microcomputer can determine which gestures are being made - and then it can use a speech synthesizer to say words that the wearer cannot speak.

It is reported that the relevant research report has been published in Advanced Materials.

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