Multimedia Gallery
Smart coating warns of implant failure and kills bacteria
An illustration of a "smart" coating with bacteria-killing nanopillars on one side and strain-mapping flexible electronic sensors on the other. The coating, inspired by the antibacterial wings of dragonflies and cicadas, provides early warning of implant failure while killing infection-causing bacteria.
[Research supported by U.S. National Science Foundation grants CBET 2015292 and ECCS 2121003.]
Learn more in the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign news release Smart surgical implant coatings provide early failure warning while preventing infection. (Date of image: May 2023; date originally posted to NSF Multimedia Gallery: May 19, 2023)
Credit: Beckman Imaging Technology Group/University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
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