This technology is a device that uses electrical activity to facilitate the wound healing process while protecting the wound. The bandage is made of an electroactive material (pictured above) that is stimulated by the heat of the body and the pressure of cell growth, thus no external power source is required.
NASA has developed a high-tech electroactive bandage that creates an electric charge to help promote the healing process of wounds.
Electroactive material is so sensitive that a push or even blow on it can create an electric charge.
The fibres of the guaze are made of electroactive material Polyvinylidene Flouride (PVDF) which are stimulated by the heat of the body and the pressure of cell growth, thus no external power source is required.
“This technology is a device that uses electrical activity to facilitate the wound healing process while protecting the wound,” NASA wrote on its blog.
The bandage also minimises infection and related complications such as illness or amputation.
NASA said this bandage could be used by military personnel wounded in the field, patients who have undergone surgery or who have suffered a serious wound and astronauts in space.
- Speeds the wound healing process
- Combines active healing and wound protection into one
- Slim, self-contained alternative to electrical stimulation devices for accelerated wound healing
- Minimizes infection and related complications (e.g., illness, amputation)
- Military personnel wounded in the field
- Hospital patients who have undergone surgery
- General patients who have suffered a serious wound
- Astronauts in space
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| PVDF scaffold close-up. Image credit: NASA |
An electroactive device is applied to an external wound site. This method utilizes generated low level electrical stimulation to promote the wound healing process while simultaneously protecting it from infection. The material is fabricated from polyvinylidene fluoride, or PVDF, a thermoplastic fluoropolymer that is highly piezoelectric when poled. The fabrication method of the electroactive material is based on a previous Langley invention of an apparatus that is used to electrospin highly aligned polymer fiber material. A description of the fabrication method can be found in the technology opportunity announcement titled “NASA Langley’s Highly Electrospun Fibers and Mats,” which is available on NASA Langley’s Technology Gateway.
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