A batteryless and wireless device detects coronavirus in the air in real time – Innovation Toronto

What if you could tell if your surroundings contained COVID-19 particles or droplets the moment they or you entered the vicinity? A collaborative research group has engineered a self-sustaining device that brings this closer to reality.

“We know that resonance frequency changes when the weight of a magnetostrictive material changes, but we set out to answer whether this is also the case when a virus is absorbed and if this absorption is detectable,” said Fumio Narita, co-author of the study and professor at Tohoku University’s Graduate School of Environmental Studies.

They modified a 0.2mm thick Fe-Co/Ni plate with a rectifier/storage circuit that harvested bending vibration energy and enabled the wireless transmission of information. The plate transmitted signals with the power obtained from bending vibration at 115 Hz or 116 Hz. A change in clad plate weight affected the resonance frequency and altered the transmission intervals, meaning it could detect any substances that adhered to the clad plate.

Next, the group created the bio recognition layer, choosing to focus on human coronavirus 229E (HCoV-229E) – one of the seven types of coronavirus that affects humans. They immersed the clad plate in a CD13 protein solution and performed sensing experiments. When the coated clad plate was subjected to bending vibration, the resonance frequency decreased after HCoV-229 was absorbed, verifying whether the charged power could transmit virus detection as a signal.

“We were able to confirm that the magnetostrictive composite material can detect the virus and transmit this detection data using power generated by itself,” added Narita. “The self-sustaining nature of the device renders it possible to link it to IoT technologies in the future, something not capable with current biosensors.”

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