ICFO Showcases Graphene-Based Wearables at MWC 2019

A new device from the Institute of Photonic Sciences (ICFO) allows users to monitor their level of exposure to sunlight through a UV sensor. Designed as a flexible, transparent, disposable patch, it connects to a mobile device and alerts the user once he or she has reached a defined threshold of sun exposure. Using the same core technology as the UV patch, ICFO is developing a fitness band to measure heart rate, hydration, oxygen saturation, breathing rate, and temperature.

ICFO's fitness band is being developed to measure heart rate, hydration, oxygen saturation, breathing rate, and temperature. Courtesy of ICFO.

ICFO is exhibiting these wearables at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2019, Feb. 25-28, 2019, in Barcelona. At MWC it will also showcase two other light-based graphene technologies — a single pixel spectrometer and a graphene-enabled hyperspectral image sensor, both with broadband capabilities beyond what was once perceived possible without the use of bulky photodetection systems.

The tiny, graphene-based sensor, which is made up of hundreds of thousands of photodetectors and is built into a smartphone camera, is highly sensitive to UV and IR light, allowing the phone to see more than what’s visible to the human eye. “This technology would allow users in the supermarket to hold the camera to fruit and infer which is the freshest piece,” said Frank Koppens, group leader at ICFO. “Or, in a more extreme example, the camera could be used for driving in dangerously dense fog by providing augmented outlines of surrounding vehicles on the windscreen.”

These technologies are on display at the Graphene Pavilion at MWC from Feb. 25-28, 2019.

Flexible and transparent wellness sensing enabled by graphene. Courtesy of ICFO.