Researchers at the Italian Institute of Technology in Milan have created an innovative edible transistor from a common toothpaste ingredient. This breakthrough could be key in developing smart pills to monitor health conditions internally before safely dissolving in the body.
In a groundbreaking step towards the future of health care technology, researchers at the Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT-Italian Institute of Technology) in Milan have developed the first edible transistor made from a common toothpaste ingredient. This remarkable nano-device could become a vital component in the next generation of smart pills, capable of monitoring health conditions within the body and then dissolving harmlessly.
The research, published in the journal Advanced Science, explores the untapped potential of copper phthalocyanine, a blue pigment found in many toothpaste formulations. This substance, traditionally used to enhance teeth whiteness, has shown promising semiconductor properties.
“With the amount of copper phthalocyanine we ingest daily, we could theoretically manufacture approximately 10,000 edible transistors,” lead author Elena Feltri, a doctoral student at IIT’s Center for Nano Science and Technology (CNST) in Milan, said in a news release.
Copper phthalocyanine is gradually removed and ingested with saliva throughout the day. Feltri and the team, in collaboration with a dental researcher from the University of Novi Sad in Serbia, discovered its natural inclination to conduct charge within its crystals, making it suitable for organic electronics applications.
The team leveraged these properties by integrating small quantities of the pigment into an edibility-focused circuit recipe. The circuits are built on an ethylcellulose substrate, with inkjet-printed electrical contacts using gold particles, a culinary decoration staple. The transistor’s “gate” comes from an electrolytic gel of chitosan, derived from crustaceans like blue crabs, enabling the device to function at a low voltage below 1V.
This transistor is the latest innovation from Mario Caironi’s Printed and Molecular Electronics laboratory at IIT, following the prior creation of an edible battery. Caironi’s lab is dedicated to exploring the electronic properties of food and its derivatives, aiming to pioneer new technologies in health care and food quality control.
The development of the toothpaste-based transistor signifies a major leap towards integrating electronics into the food domain, with the tantalizing promise of revolutionary health care applications. The next challenge for the IIT team is to find additional edible substances with the necessary chemical and physical properties to build smart, dissolvable electronic devices capable of monitoring various health parameters.
This innovative research not only highlights the versatility of everyday materials but also brings us closer to a future where monitoring health from within the body involves nothing more than eating a “smart pill.”