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For diabetics who need to check their blood glucose levels daily, this could be a cheaper alternative to prefabricated glucose strips. (Earlier this year, another group of researchers tested a temporary paper tattoo that measured glucose levels using a small electrical shock.)
Currently, the drawings can only provide a single measurement, but the researchers would like to eventually make a single tattoo work for all-day monitoring. The pen encourages creative doodling, which could be appealing for children.
“The whole point was having a system that can be used easily by any untrained end users to develop sensors by themselves,” said Amay Bandodkar, a fourth year graduate student at UC San Diego who created the pen. The work was led by professor Joseph Wang in the Department of NanoEngineering.
The applications aren’t limited to the human body. To measure toxins in the air, such as phenol, the group drew on the leaves of plants. The ink isn’t toxic and doesn’t hurt the foliage.
Though they are still in the early stages of developing the technology, the researchers are looking into expanding the number of chemicals the pen can detect.
Bandokar thinks the technology, called enzymatic sensors, could serve a wide range of real world uses. For example, a soldier could draw a line on a wall to detect explosives or gunshot residue. In some situations, the drawing could blend into its surroundings without arousing suspicion.
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