Batteryless device detects Covid droplets in the air around you

TOKYO: Researchers have developed a unique batteryless and wireless device that can detect within no time coronavirus in the air, if your surroundings contain Covid-19 particles or droplets the moment they enter the vicinity.

The device, which requires no batteries, employs a magnetostrictive clad plate composed of iron, cobalt and nickel, generating power via alternative magnetisation caused by vibration.

The vibration resonance frequency of the 'Fe-Co/Ni' plates, which were coated with the receptor protein coronaviruses use to enter our cells, changes when the virus is absorbed, alluding to Covid-19 particles being in the air, said the team from Tohoku University in Japan.

"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.

To answer these questions, 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," said 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," the research said in a paper published in the journal 'Sensors and Actuators A Physical'.

The device could be used on other pathogens with modifications to the bio recognition layer.

"In the future, we hope to further develop our device and see if it applies to other viruses, such as MERS, SARS and COVID-19," said Narita.