Printing of wirelessly rechargeable solid-state supercapacitors for soft, smart contact lenses with continuous operations

Abstract

Recent advances in smart contact lenses are essential to the realization of medical applications and vision imaging for augmented reality through wireless communication systems. However, previous research on smart contact lenses has been driven by a wired system or wireless power transfer with temporal and spatial restrictions, which can limit their continuous use and require energy storage devices. Also, the rigidity, heat, and large sizes of conventional batteries are not suitable for the soft, smart contact lens. Here, we describe a human pilot trial of a soft, smart contact lens with a wirelessly rechargeable, solid-state supercapacitor for continuous operation. After printing the supercapacitor, all device components (antenna, rectifier, and light-emitting diode) are fully integrated with stretchable structures for this soft lens without obstructing vision. The good reliability against thermal and electromagnetic radiations and the results of the in vivo tests provide the substantial promise of future smart contact lenses.

Outcome, influence factor and development of CLS measurement in continuous IOP monitoring: A narrative review

“…Therefore, prolonging its lifetime is an important area of investigation. Taking into consideration the fragile cornea and the vision requirements, a battery-loaded contact lens should reduce heat production to avoid corneal pain and minimize the size without vision obstacle [85]. Choiu and colleagues attempted to harvest power wirelessly and reduce energy consumption to extend the CLS lifetime as much as possible.…”

Soft Electronics Based on Liquid Conductors

“…Park's group utilized supercapacitor as contact lenses to straightly manipulate energy conversion in human eyes (Figure 26b). [185] The supercapacitor was made of carbon electrodes and ionic liquid-based electrolyte (thiol-ene polymer network skeleton + [EMIm][TFSI]). Close to the supercapacitor was a wireless power transfer unit, which was used for charging the supercapacitor wirelessly.…”

“…After the removal of the charging coil, the discharge process of supercapacitor could keep LED light on for 60 s. Reproduced with permission. [185] Copyright 2019, American Association for the Advancement of Science. d) Schematic illustration of WSC.…”

Compact polyelectrolyte hydrogels of gelatin and chondroitin sulfate as ion's mobile media in sustainable all-solid state electrochemical devices

“…The characteristic charge and discharge current densities had similar values to those observed in rechargeable solid-state supercapacitors for soft and smart contact lenses with continuous operation. 41 The CVs corresponding to CGDL/biohydrogel/ CGDL cells also show a capacitive behaviour but under a smaller potential window with respect to graphene-biogel cells (Fig. S8 in the ESI †).…”