Biocompatible Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID) Inkand its Impacts on the Health Care Sector

Danielle Broderick & Theodore ValinskiSUSTAINABILITY

The additive nature of the creation of RFID ink reduces excess waster during the manufacturing process opposed to copper-etched tags.

Cost of ink production is significantly reduced making them not that much more expensive than barcodes, while maintaining the performance of traditional RFID devices.

Implanting RFID devices during transplant operations has been predicted to increase life expectancy by 10%

RFID ink would allow for health care professionals to monitor their patients more accurately and efficiently while reducing labor and discomfort for patients.

Rigid Tags Ink Tags

Typically created by etching a circuit into a piece of copper.

These tags are much more powerful, performing above ink tags in various aspects of

cell efficiency such as read range and aperture (see

below).

Ink is created by taking a metal, usually silver, dispersed through a solvent which gives the ink-like nature where they

can then be used to print circuits. The flexibility of these

inks allows for them to be printed, like any familiar ink-jet printer, onto a variety of substrate, including human

skin. While they are less powerful, Ink tags show great

promise in regards to being environmentally friendly and

cost effective.

WHAT IS RFID?RFID devices can be broken down into to basic components: a tag and a receiver. A receiver sends out a signal to retrieve desired information stored on a tag. RFID technologies were introduced in the 1960s and are present in our everyday lives in devices like EZ Pass, ID cards, and much more. RFID ink is that same technology, except the tag is made out of flexible metallic nano-particle ink.

TAG COMPARISONS

USES IN HEALTH CARE IDENTIFYING NEW-BORNS TO PREVENT THEFTS AND MIXUPS MONITORING TRANSPLANTS AND ARTIFICIAL ORGANS MORE

DIRECTLY MONITORING BLOOD SUGAR, PRESSURE, AND HEART RATE

ROUTINELY AND UPDATING FILES ACROSS HEALTH CARE SYSTEMS FOR IMMEDIATE ACCURACY

STORING HEALTH INFORMATION IN THE CASE OF THE PATIENT’S INABLITY TO COMMUNICATE (UNCONCIOUSNESS, ETC.)

REPLACING TRADITIONAL WRIST BANDS FOR MONITORED CARE

OBSTACLES AND FUTURE OF RFIDRFID Ink faces various technical and social obstacles that prevent the aforementioned uses to become consistent and popular methods of patient care. The idea of having personal information stored within a human’s skin is incredibly radical and therefore, controversial. However, improvements in security should assist in social acceptance. Though further research needs to be conducted to get ink tags to function as efficiently as rigid tags, it is possible that there is no need for that level of efficiency for these applications. Overall, it is imperative to continue to invest time and recourses in this area of research to see realization of the attractive predicted outcomes that could revolutionize our hospitals while maintaining financial and environmental integrity.