Wirelessly Powered Drug-Free and Anti-Infective Smart Bandage for Chronic Wound Care

• Published in: IEEE transactions on biomedical circuits and systems Vol. PP; no. 5; pp. 1 - 16
• Main Authors: Ullah, Irfan, Wagih, Mahmoud, Sun, Yixuan, Li, Yi, Hajdu, Kata, Courson, Remi, Dreanno, Catherine, Prado, Enora, Komolafe, Abiodun, Harris, Nick R., White, Neil M., Beeby, Steve
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States IEEE 01-10-2023; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE); Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
• Subjects: Antibacterial activity; Bacteria; battery-less; chronic wound care; Circuits; Coils; e-textiles; Fabrics; Gram-negative bacteria; inductive coil; Light emission; Light emitting diodes; Microorganisms; Power management; Sciences of the Universe; Smart bandage; Sterilization; Strain; Ultraviolet radiation; UVC LED; wearables; Wireless power transfer; Wireless power transmission; Wound healing; Wound infection; Wounds
• ISSN: 1932-4545; 1940-9990
• DOI: 10.1109/TBCAS.2023.3277318

We present a wirelessly powered ultraviolet-C (UVC) radiation-based disinfecting bandage for sterilization and treatment in chronic wound care and management. The bandage contains embedded low-power UV light-emitting diodes (LEDs) in the 265 to 285 nm range with the light emission controlled via a microcontroller. An inductive coil is seamlessly concealed in the fabric bandage and coupled with a rectifier circuit to enable 6.78 MHz wireless power transfer (WPT). The maximum WPT efficiency of the coils is 83% in free space and 75% on the body at a coupling distance of 4.5 cm. Measurements show that the UVC LEDs are emitting radiant power of about 0.6 mW and 6.8 mW with and without fabric bandage, respectively, when wirelessly powered. The ability of the bandage to inactivate microorganisms was examined in a laboratory which shows that the system can effectively eradicate Gram-negative bacteria, Pseudoalteromonas sp. D41 strain, on surfaces in six hours. The proposed smart bandage system is low-cost, battery-free, flexible and can be easily mounted on the human body and, therefore, shows great promise for the treatment of persistent infections in chronic wound care.