Fl us iTe x- Ga t e way

Development of a ratiometric textile sensor for

pH
 Current Wound Monitoring

Wound healing involves a complex series of biochemical events. Though our

understanding of the healing process has improved, we still use low tech dressings.

Current Methods
Full or partial removal of wound pad
Visual Observation
Skin Irritation
Increased chances of infection
Only qualitative information
Collecting biochemical information
Highly invasive
Expensive
 The Business Case

$12bn worldwide market aimed solely at wound care

Wound monitoring consists less than 1% of this
industry
6 weeks treatment of a chronical wound
35,000 CHF

Benefits in sensing the wound include

Reduce hospitalization time
Provide better treatment
Prevents amputation
Working principle

Non-invasive
detector detector

Sensing layer

pH
Wound
 The Team

Dr. Luciano F. Boesel

Sensing chemistry and matrix development

Dr. Stefano Cattaneo

Fluorescent ratiometric detector
Concept of pH sensor
 Concept 1: ion pair

1.5
exc. 460 nm / exc. 405 nm

1.0
Intensity ratio

0.5
Ion pair:
Pyranine-benzalkonium
HPTS-BZK on PVDF membrane

0.0
5.5 6.0 6.5 7.0 7.5 8.0 8.5

pH
 Concept 2: dyeing

Perylene bisanhydride
+
Branched polyethyleneimine
 The functional pad - I

Alginate pad with sensor units Gelatin, chitosan,

alginate matrices

Textile wound-pad
 The functional pad - II

Dye solution
Dots with the fluorescent dyes

Textile wound-pad
 Fluorescent detector

Printed Circuit Board Electronics + optics:

(PCB):

Complete system with housing:

Dimensions: 30x30x10
mm3
Anodized aluminum
body
 Interface / GUI

Fluorescence device is connected with a USB cable to the laptop

A dedicated Graphical User Interface (LabVIEW) allows the
operation of the fluorescence device
Measurements with the pad

Test measurements with

200m agarose microbeads
labeled with fluorescein:
 Outcome / Impact

Sensor suited for a range of users/applications:

at-home use for self-evaluation by the patient
clinical use by a clinician for a precise measurement of pH evolution
of chronic wounds.

Societal and economic impacts in chronic wound management:

patients will have the possibility to know the status of their wound
in a less invasive way without having to go to the hospital/clinician;
wound evolution may be followed remotely and continuously;
the costs for chronic wound management will decrease
considerably
 Outcome II

Projects approved with our partners

GRS proposal (TheranOptics Sarl, Empa, and CSEM, together with EPFL):
Development of a fully integrated lab-on-fiber fluorescence
platform for point-of-care testing of chronic wounds

CTI project 18504.2 PFNM-NM (Kenzen AG, CSEM, and Empa):

Next Generation Sweat Analysis Smart Patch
Biosensing in the sweat (electrolytes, glucose, cortisol, etc.), aims at
developing a non-invasive, wearable sensing patch.

CTI project 25574.1 PFIW-IW (Schoeller AG and Empa, plus additional

partners):
Smart Electronically Climatized Clothing (SECC)
Use of adaptive systems and physical sensors for textiles.
Outlook I

pH = 5.9

Wound is ok

pH = 7.3

Go to
doctor

Icons designed by Freepick from Flaticon

Outlook II

Coated optical fiber Sol-gel precursors

Dr. Luciano F. Boesel
Dr. Markus Rottmar
Dr. Claudio Toncelli
Dr. Alina Osypova
Dr. Guido Panzarasa

Thanks!

Dr. Stefano Cattaneo

Christoph Hofer