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Color-Changing Polymer Could Spot Traumatic Brain Injuries

The forces from an explosive blast or a head-on tackle can shake a person's head, causing damage that might trigger long-term neurodegeneration. To help doctors determine whether a patient might suffer from this type of traumatic brain injury, materials scientists at the University of Pennsylvania have developed a thin polymeric film that changes color when struck with forces similar to those produced during football games or combat. The material is lightweight and doesn't require any power to function, so the developers think it could be affixed to helmets without burdening football players or military personnel as they work. To design the sensor, Shu Yang and her team relied on their experience with photonic crystals - materials with ordered nanostructures that interact with light to produce color. The researchers thought that such a crystal could serve as a force sensor, because a collision would compress these nanostructures, changing their shapes and, in turn, their color.

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    Transcript

    00:00:00 a Bomb Blast or a tough tackle can inflict brain damage that destroys lives but the immediate injury is not always visible now a team of researchers has developed a material that could be a big development for the battlefield and the sports field Professor Shu Yang and her team at the University of Pennsylvania have developed a polymer-based material that changes color on impact they're

    00:00:21 presenting their research at the 250th meeting of the American Chemical Society in Boston color changing films are not new but they vary widely in their ability to detect Force some are sensitive to even the touch of a finger but Yang's team wanted to develop a material with a much greater range of detection they used self-assembling polymers chains of molecules that bind

    00:00:41 together under certain conditions to form crystals that produce certain colors when a force is applied the internal structure changes and so does the color post-doctoral researcher yangan Cho helped develop the film so film can show the the color change depending on how much and how quickly the first is applied chos is applying a 30 m Force equivalent to a sedan moving

    00:01:05 at 80 mph hitting a brick wall changed the Crystal from red to Green a force of 90 millons running a speeding truck into that same wall turned the polymer purple yank says the same Force range can be used for measuring anything from a concussion to a Bomb Blast and give Medics an immediate indicator of potential injury Cho says the technology could be ready for sports helmets and

    00:01:29 Soldier helmets in a few years