Seaweed is getting extra consideration as researchers uncover its well being advantages, its use as a meals supply, and its worth to the atmosphere.
A gaggle of UK researchers has mixed all three property, with a biodegradable, edible algae-based digital well being monitor.
Their sensor, created from food-grade seaweed, salt and graphene, is extra delicate than present well being screens made out of comparable, however artificial, supplies.
“I used to be first impressed to make use of seaweed within the lab after watching MasterChef throughout lockdown,” says Dr Conor Boland, a supplies physics lecturer on the University of Sussex, UK, and corresponding creator on a paper describing the sensor, revealed in ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering.
“Seaweed, when used to thicken deserts, provides them a delicate and bouncy construction – favoured by vegans and vegetarians as an alternative choice to gelatin. It obtained me considering: ‘what if we may try this with sensing know-how?’.”
The researchers combined the seaweed (sodium alginate powder), purchased from a specialty meals provider, with graphene, created from graphite flakes.
When dipped in a salt tub, the alginate absorbs water and turns right into a spongy, versatile hydrogel. The graphite within the gel makes it electrically conductive, and the seaweed insulates it.
The researchers confirmed that this gel may sense strain very successfully, making it a great candidate for monitoring issues like coronary heart charge.
“For me, one of the thrilling elements to this growth is that we now have a sensor that’s each absolutely biodegradable and extremely efficient,” says Boland.
“The mass manufacturing of unsustainable rubber and plastic based mostly well being know-how may, mockingly, pose a threat to human well being by means of microplastics leeching into water sources as they degrade.
“As a brand new mum or dad, I see it as my duty to make sure my analysis allows the realisation of a cleaner world for all our youngsters.”
