• Journal of Sericultural and Entomological Science
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• v.43 no.2
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• pp.109-115
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• 2001

Silk sericin protein was extracted by treatment with enzyme or NaOH solution from raw silk and culled-cocoon shell. The extracted sericin was characterized and examined the functional properties as well as subjective properties for its use as a soap and a body cleaner. The optimum extraction conditions on specimen are NaOH (0.02 wt.%) or enzyme, Flavourzyme 3% under N2 gas. Molecular weights of sericin was decreased by treatment with enzyme, Actinase, from 10,000-30,000 to 2,700-4,200. Sericin showed important bioactive properties, for instance, lowering effect on blood glucose and alcohol. Subjective test of sericin soap and body cleaner showed superior in washability, foamability, and skin hydration, etc., to commercial soap and body cleaner. Therefore, it is thought that silk sericin can be expected as the source of bioactive and skin-compatible materials.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.71-78
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• 2022

Wearable devices have the potential to revolutionize future medical diagnostics and personal healthcare. The integration of biosensors into scalable form factors allow continuous and noninvasive monitoring of key biomarkers and various physiological indicators. However, conventional wearable devices have critical limitations owing to their rigid and obtrusive interfaces. Recent developments in functional biocompatible materials, micro/nanofabrication methods, multimodal sensor mechanisms, and device integration technologies have provided the foundation for novel skin-interfaced bioelectronics for advanced and user-friendly wearable devices. Nonetheless, it is a great challenge to satisfy a wide range of design parameters in fabricating an authentic skin-interfaced device while maintaining its edge over conventional devices. This review highlights recent advances in skin-compatible materials, biosensor performance, and energy-harvesting methods that shed light on the future of wearable devices for digital health and personalized medicine.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.32 no.6
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• pp.335-339
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• 2023

Skin-compatible electronics have evolved to achieve both conformality and stretchability for stable contact with deformable biological skin. While existing research has largely concentrated on alternative materials, the potential of Parylene-based thin-film electrodes for stretchable on-skin applications remains relatively untapped. This study proposes an engineering strategy to achieve stretchability using the Parylene thin-film electrode. Unlike the conventional Parylene thin-film electrode, we introduce morphological adaptability via controlled microscale slits in the Parylene electrode structure. The slits-containing device enables unprecedented stretchability while maintaining critical electrical insulation properties during mechanical deformation. Finally, the demonstration on human skin shows the mechanical adaptability of these Parylene-based bioelectrodes while their electrical characteristics remain stable during various stretching conditions. Owing to the ultra-thinness of the Parylene coating, the wearable bioelectrode not only achieves stretchability but also conforms to the skin. Our findings broaden the practical use of Parylene thin-film bioelectrodes.

• Proceedings of the Materials Research Society of Korea Conference
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• 2011.05a
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• pp.10.1-10.1
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• 2011

Energy harvesting technologies converting external sources (such as thermal energy, vibration and mechanical energy from the nature sources of wind, waves or animal movements) into electrical energy is recently a highly demanding issue in the materials science community for making sustainable green environments. In particular, fabrication of usable nanogenerator attract the attention of many researchers because it can scavenge even the biomechanical energy inside the human body (such as heart beat, blood flow, muscle stretching, or eye blinking) by converging harvesting technology with implantable bio-devices. Herein, we describe procedure suitable for generating and printing a lead-free microstructured $BaTiO_3$ thin film nanogenerator on plastic substrates to overcome limitations appeared in conventional flexible ferroelectric devices. Flexible $BaTiO_3$ thin film nanogenerator was fabricated and the piezoelectric properties and mechanically stability of ferroelectric devices were characterized. From the results, we demonstrate the highly efficient and stable performance of $BaTiO_3$ thin film nanogenerator and the integration of bio-eco-compatible ferroelectric materials may enable innovative opportunities for artificial skin and energy harvesting system.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.499-503
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• 2003

Encapsulation of L-ascorbic acid (vitamin C) within a bio-compatible layered inorganic material was achieved by coprecipitation reaction, in which the layered inorganic lattice and its intercalate of vitamin C are simultaneously formed. The nano-meter sized powders of vitamin C intercalate thus prepared was again encapsulated with silica nano-sol to form a nanoporous shell structure. This ternary nanohybrid of vitamin Clayered inorganic core-$SiO_2$ shell exhibited an enhanced storage stability and a sustained releasing of vitamin C. Furthermore, the nano-encapsulation of vitamin C with inorganic mineral was very helpful in delivering vitamin C molecules into skin through stratum corneum, facilitating transdermal penetration of vitamin C in topical application.

• Journal of Semiconductor Engineering
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• v.1 no.3
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• pp.88-98
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• 2020

As biosensors are widely used in the medical field, flexible devices compatible with live animals have aroused great interest. Especially, significant research has been carried out to develop implantable or skin-attachable devices for real-time bio-signal sensing. From the device point of view, various biosensor types such as field-effect transistors (FETs) and multi-electrode arrays (MEAs) have been reported as diverse sensing strategies. In particular, the flexible FETs and MEAs allow semiconductor engineering to expand its application, which had been impossible with stiff devices and materials. This review summarizes the state-of-the-art research on flexible FET and MEA biosensors focusing on their materials, structures, sensing targets, and methods.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.59-65
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• 2008

Nowadays, implantable hearing aids have been developed to solve the problems of conventional hearing aids. In case of fully implantable hearing aids, an implantable microphone is necessary to receive sound signal beneath the skin. Normally, an implantable microphone has poor frequency response characteristics in high frequency bands of acoustic signal due to the high frequency attenuation effect of skin after implantation to human body. In this paper, the implantable microphone is designed to reduce the high frequency attenuation effect of a skin by putting its resonance frequency at the attenuated range through a finite element analysis (FEA) simulation. The designed implantable microphone through the simulated results has been fabricated by manufacturing process using bio-compatible materials. By the several in-vitro experiments with pig skin, it has been verified that the designed implantable microphone has a resonance frequency around the starting part of the attenuated range and reduces the attenuation effect.

• Elastomers and Composites
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• v.58 no.3
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• pp.112-120
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• 2023

Herein, we propose a facile water-processible method to develop an eggshell membrane (ESM)-embedded waterborne polyurethane (WPU)-based bio-degradable and bio-compatible coating material that exhibits attractive tactile properties. Virgin ESM is not dispersible in water. Hence, to develop the ESM-based WPU composite, soluble ESM (S-ESM) was first extracted by de-crosslinking the ESM. The extracted S-ESM at different concentrations (0, 0.5, 1.0, 1.5 wt %) was mixed with WPU. Compared to virgin WPU, the viscosity of S-ESM/WPU dispersion and the in-plane coefficient of friction (COF) of the composite film surfaces decreased with an increase in the S-ESM content. In addition, an increase in the S-ESM content improved the tribo-positive characteristics of the film. Different good touch-feeling biomaterials, such as fur, feather, and human skin exhibit tribo-positivity. Thus, the enhanced tribo-positive characteristics of the S-ESM/WPU and the decrease in their COF owing to an increase in the S-ESM content imply the enhancement of its touch-feeling performance. The S-ESM embedded WPU composites have potential applications as coating materials in various fields, including automobile interiors and artificial leather.

• Composites Research
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.55-59
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• 2009

Microstrip antennas are low profile, are conformable to planar and nonplanar surfaces, are simple and inexpensive to manufacture, mechanically robust when mounted on rigid surfaces and are compatible with MMIC(Monolithic microwave integrated circuit) designs; they have been used in diverse communication systems. The rectangular microstrip patch antenna is designed for a central frequency of 12.5 GHz, and the final product is a $4{\times}1$ array antenna with curvature radius of 200 mm. The microstrip antenna is embedded in a sandwich structure which consists of skin and core material. After impact, the performance of damaged antenna is estimated by measuring the return loss and radiation pattern. The antenna performance was not affected by this impact damage.