Design and synthesis of indicator dyes for smart textiles: applications in medicine, wellness and sports.

Fecha: 19/11/2018
Hora: 13:00h
Lugar: Salon de Actos Edificio Mecenas

Ponente: DR. Gerhard Mohr. JOANNEUM RESEARCH Institute for Surface Technologies and Photonics de Graz (Austria).

Smart textiles mostly rely on integration of electronics into existing textile materials. However, these electronics have to survive washing at elevated temperatures using alkaline washing agents, ironing and eventually even sterilisation.

In order to provide stable sensor textiles, a different approach is possible by using indicator dyes covalently linked to the textile fabric. The indicator chemistry neither needs energy supply, data treatment, data storage nor a display, because the colour changes easily take place at room temperature and are visible for the human eye. Specific colour changes (e.g. traffic light colour changes from green to red) may aid in their interpretation.

Examples of different textile materials (e.g. indicator washcloths and indicator cotton swabs) and their possible applications are presented. New indicator dyes for various analytes and indicators based on fluorescence will be introduced and possible requirements by the industry will be discussed.