Smart contact lens with LED made autonomous and tested on humans

Korean engineers have created a contact lens with an LED that works autonomously thanks to a wirelessly charged ionistor. They successfully tested the lens on a mannequin, rabbit, and human.

The developed design can be used to create smart lenses with various sensors, the authors of the article in Science Advances say.

It is known that the level of substances in the blood correlates with that in the tear. Because of this, scientists have long been working on systems that non-invasively measure blood glucose through tear analysis.

For example, in 2014, Google announced the development of a smart contact lens with a glucose sensor that would help diabetics track their condition without having to pierce a finger for a blood test. However, so far no company has produced such lenses, because scientists have encountered many technological barriers in the development of smart lenses.

According to nanonewsnet.ru, last year a group of Korean engineers created one of the most advanced prototypes of smart lenses. Then they managed to combine a glucose sensor in the lens, an LED to display the level of a substance in a tear, and an antenna for wireless power. However, in practice, it is impossible to use a lens with this design, because the circuit for wireless power should be located at a distance of about a centimeter from it.

Now, engineers led by Jang-Ung Park of Yonsei University have created a new version of the smart contact lens, equipping it with an ionistor to work without a power source.