Multi-Functional Materials for Smart Stents Sensing

Cardiovascular disease is one of the most threat to life, and the cause by stroke has been increasing significantly in the longevity era. According to the statistics, the average population of increased amount is about 10,000 people. For the early prevention, installing stents is a method and has become regularly used. However, it is still not able to tell the diseases immediately without a heavily examination equipment in the hospitals.

This idea aims to develop smart stents which can be able to transfer the signals to outside devices by means of wifi and 5G in order to monitor the heart condition and blood flow at any time. The proposed methodology to create the smart stents is using the additive nano-manufacturing (ANM) of multi-functional components for smart sensing and monitoring and to explore vital signals by incorporating Artificial Intelligence based data analytics.

The planning system mainly encompasses two parts:

  • The first part has three tasks:
    1. to create 2D/3D nanostructured polymer-based self-charging piezoelectric components via ANM (e.g., two-photon lithography based 3D direct laser fabrication);
    2. to develop novel normal and shear force sensing techniques based on 2D/3D photonic nanostructures.;
    3. to prototype a battery-free wireless pressure sensing networks for biomedical applications by incorporating mini-radio frequency identification (mini-RFID) chips.
  • The second part is to establish a platform of smart biomedical sensors applied on artificial tactile sense and microfluidic chips aided by the information from the first part.

Funding:

  1. Additive Nano-Manufacturing of Multi-Functional Materials for Smart Stents Sensing (2022 Academia Sinica Catalyst Award Competition – PI: Dr. Yu-Sheng Lin (Southern Taiwan University of Science and Technology); Co-PIs: Dr. Ying-Lung Daniel Ho (Northumbria University), Dr. Kevin Chung-Che Huang (University of Southampton), Dr. Shuangyi Yan (University of Bristol), and Dr. Chen-Hsun Weng (National Cheng Kung University), funded by the Academia Sinica of Taiwan – 2022 Healthy Longevity Grand Challenge Competition Winners, value (US$): 100,000, 01/09/2022 – 31/08/2024.
  2. Additive Micro/Nano-manufacturing of Structured Piezoelectric Active Materials for Intelligent Stent Monitoring (EPSRC ECR international collaboration grant) – PI: Dr. Ying-Lung Daniel Ho (Northumbria University); Co-I: Dr. Shuangyi Yan (University of Bristol); Partners: Dr. Yu-Sheng Lin (Southern Taiwan University of Science and Technology), Dr. Hao Zeng, Dr. Hongshuang Guo (Tampere University), Dr. Quang Minh Ngo (Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology), Dr. Kevin Chung-Che Huang (University of Southampton), value (£): 154966.30 (FEC 100%), 01/09/2023 – 31/08/2025.

Collaborators: