Vietnamese doctor creates fabric that can self-heal and measure heart rate

Dr. Truong Vi Khanh, Deputy Director of the Biomedical Nano Engineering Laboratory, Flinders University, who led the research team, said that in 2018, while watching the movie "Terminator", he suddenly had the idea of ​​creating liquid metal that could change shape.

He approached Professor Michael Dickey, North Carolina State University (USA), a leading scientist in liquid metal research, to propose liquid metal particles that, when in contact with bacteria, could change shape and kill bacteria. This idea was later awarded by Fulbright and RMIT, helping him and his colleagues carry out the research.

The team collaborated with scientists from North Carolina State University and Sungkyunkwan University (South Korea) to create a gallium and indium compound that can form electronic circuits in fabrics. The fabric layers with circuits are used to develop smart wearable devices. "We can customize the conductive paths as desired by adding more coatings that can make the fabric more conductive," said Dr. Khanh.

The team also successfully created a conductive path that can heal itself when cut by forming new conductive paths along the edges of the cut, thereby providing self-healing properties. This ability makes the material useful in circuit connections and flexible electrodes for measuring electrocardiogram signals. The researchers turned the coated fabrics into electrodes for electrocardiographs (ECGs), which monitor heart rhythms. The testing process showed that the results performed as well as commercial gel-based electrodes.

Dr. Truong Vi Khanh introduces metal-coated fabrics. Photo: NVCC

Test results also showed that the metal-coated textiles have effective antibacterial properties. The fabric helps repel pathogens and can be used for a longer period without washing, which can be used as hospital bedsheets and patient clothing to prevent infection.

Dr Khanh added that gallium and indium are not abundant metals, but the process of making the liquid metal-coated fabric only requires less than one micrometer of each in the fabric coating. "Because the amount of material used is small, the manufacturing cost is low," he informed.

The work was published in the journal Advanced Materials Technologies in late May.

Dr. Truong Vi Khanh (left) and PhD student Nguyen Tien Thanh in the laboratory of Flinders University (Australia). Photo: NVCC

Professor Michael Dickey commented that this research is a breakthrough in applications related to liquid metals and liquid metal coatings. The author has been creative in combining knowledge of materials and nanotechnology to create unique methods.

"The research is groundbreaking, especially in developing new antibacterial technologies," Professor Krasimir Vasilev, Director of the Biomedical Nano Engineering Laboratory, told VnExpress .

Dr. Khanh wishes to expand research cooperation and provide opportunities for Vietnamese students to access world technology. Currently, his lab has 8 Vietnamese students studying for their doctorate.

Dr. Truong Vi Khanh received his PhD in nanobiotechnology in 2012 from Swinburne University. He held positions such as RMIT VC member and Fulbright Scholar, before working at Flinders University. As an expert in the field of antibacterial materials applications in medicine and industry, Dr. Khanh has successfully collaborated with businesses in research projects, creating products with high applicability in medicine and industry. He published more than 150 scientific works with 8,000 citations (an average of more than 60 citations per article).

Nhu Quynh

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