KR20180101098A - Medical patch based on organic solar cell - Google Patents

Abstract

Provided is a patch which comprises: a substrate; an organic solar cell located on the substrate; an outer electrode and an inner electrode disposed under the substrate; a metal wire connecting the organic solar cell and each electrode; and a film adhered to the outside thereof. The organic solar cell-based medical patch of the present invention is useful as a patient-friendly therapy using electrical stimulation in a field associated with wound healing.

Description

[0001] The present invention relates to a medical patch based on organic solar cells,

The present invention relates to a medical patch, and more particularly, to an organic solar cell-based photovoltaic patch that can be applied to skin wound sites to promote wound healing.

It has been reported that electrical stimulation can regulate the action of skin or immune cells, and research has shown that the formation of electric potentials at the deep and peripheral portions of skin wounds shortens the wound regeneration time.

In other words, external electrical stimulation has been reported to explain the therapeutic effect of wound healing, and it has been shown that external electrical stimulation is effective for wound healing [Alvarez OM, Mertz PM, Smerbeck RV, Eaglstein WH . The healing of superficial skin wounds is stimulated by external electrical current. J Invest Dermatol. 1983; 81: 144-8 .; Ramadana, Elsaidy M, Zyada R. Effect of low-intensity direct current on the healing of chronic wounds: a literature review. J Wound Care. 2008; 17: 292-6]. It has also been reported that an endogenous electric field (EF) of 40 to 200 mV / mm generated at the wound site in the wound healing-related therapeutic regimen can control wound healing [Nuccitelli R. A role for endogenous electric fields in wound healing. Curr Top Dev Biol. 2003; 58: 1-26].

However, in this study, a large device was required to deliver electrical stimulation to the wound site, which made the patient inconvenient to enter the hospital.

On the other hand, there have been cases where patches for wound healing that can exhibit such effects have been equipped with small batteries or simple electrochemical batteries, and examples of using self-generated medical patches instead of batteries include piezoelectric. However, There is a problem that the direction of the potential is not constant and the generated energy is very small.

Korean Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2015-0115019 (Oct. 13, 2015) Korean Patent Publication No. 2015-0012161 (Feb.

The inventors of the present invention intend to develop a wearable device for more patient-friendly clinical application by minimizing the inconvenience of a patient such as a hospital admission in an electric stimulation therapy for treating a wound by delivering an electric stimulus to a wound area Respectively.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a simplified medical patch including an organic solar cell and being portable and capable of self-generation.

In the present invention, a substrate 10; An organic solar cell 20 located above the substrate 10; An outer electrode 30 located below the substrate 10 and having an inner space therein; A metal line 35 connecting the anode of the organic solar cell 20 and the outer electrode 30; An inner electrode (40) located below the substrate (10) and positioned inside the outer electrode (30); A metal line 45 connecting the cathode of the organic solar cell 20 and the inner electrode 40; And a film 50 adhered to the outside of the substrate 10, the organic solar cell 20, the outer electrode 30, and the inner electrode 40 are provided.

In one embodiment, the substrate 10 is made of a material selected from the group consisting of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), poly (glycolic acid), PGA, polycaprolactone (PCL), polylactide (PLA), polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA), polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB), polybutylene succinate (PBS), poly (L-lactide-co-e (L-lactide-co-ε-caprolactone), PLCL], and mixtures thereof.

In one embodiment, the organic solar cell (20) is poly (3-hexylthiophene) [poly (3-hexylthiophene) , P3HT] phenyl and -C ₆₁ - acid methyl ester _{[phenyl-C 61 -butyric acid methyl} ester , ≪ / RTI > PCBM].

In one embodiment, the outer electrode 30 and the inner electrode 40 may be one selected from the group consisting of a gold-plated electrode, a carbon black composite electrode, and a hydrogel bridle electrode.

In one embodiment, the outer electrode 30 may be annular, and the inner electrode 40 may be located at the center of the outer electrode 30.

In one embodiment, the metal wire 35 and the metal wire 45 may independently be one selected from the group consisting of silver, copper, silver plated copper, and nickel plated copper.

In one embodiment, the film 50 may be made of poly (glycolic acid), PGA, polycaprolactone (PCL), polylactide or polylactic acid (PLA), polyhydroxy alcohols Polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA), polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB), polybutylene succinate (PBS), poly (L-lactide-co-epsilon -caprolactone) lactide-co-ε-caprolactone), PLCL], and mixtures thereof.

In one embodiment, the patch may be disposable and may generate a direct current of 40-200 mV / mm.

The organic solar cell-based medical patch of the present invention differs from the conventional case in which the wound treatment method (dressing) is focused on minimizing tissue infection and re-wounding the wound area by passive treatment process and failing to successfully perform wound treatment By stimulating intrinsic regeneration of skin cells and actively contributing to the wound healing process, it is possible to effectively shorten the wound healing time, such as the wound of the skin. In addition, the patch of the present invention can be easily worn as a self-powered type and can be developed as a disposable product in the treatment of skin wounds caused by electric stimulation, thereby maximizing convenience for patients.

Accordingly, the organic solar cell-based medical patch of the present invention can be usefully used in the field of wound healing as a patient-friendly therapeutic therapy using electric stimulation.

Figure 1 schematically shows the structure of an organic solar cell based medical patch.
2 is a configuration diagram showing a medical patch according to an embodiment of the present invention.
Fig. 3 shows a configuration (group S, [C]) showing a patch (group S, [C]) including a patch without a solar cell / electrode (group WD, [A]), a patch without a solar cell .
FIG. 4 is a graph showing (A) western blot analysis and (B) angiogenic factor measurement results of a change in the wound area after 15 days after inducing a wound on a back part of a nude mouse and attaching an organic solar cell- will be.
FIG. 5 is a graph showing the relationship between the amount of pericyte (CD34 +) increased in the wound area after 15 days and the factors involved in capillary formation (A) Western blot analysis and (B) result graphs in which the expression levels of CD31 +, PECAM were measured.

The present invention relates to a substrate (10); An organic solar cell 20 located above the substrate 10; An outer electrode 30 located below the substrate 10 and having an inner space therein; A metal line 35 connecting the anode of the organic solar cell 20 and the outer electrode 30; An inner electrode (40) located below the substrate (10) and positioned inside the outer electrode (30); A metal line 45 connecting the cathode of the organic solar cell 20 and the inner electrode 40; And a film (50) adhered to the outside of the substrate (10), the organic solar cell (20), the outer electrode (30) and the inner electrode (40).

Figure 1 schematically shows the structure of an organic solar cell based medical patch.

The patch of the present invention is a patch comprising a substrate 10 having a center portion and an organic solar cell 20 on one side thereof; The outer electrode 30 and the inner electrode 40 are connected to each other and the other surface is connected to the inner electrode 40. The organic solar battery 20 and the electrodes (the outer electrode 30 and the inner electrode 40) And integrated to form a single wearable patch.

The patch according to the present invention is an organic photovoltaic patch (OPP), which can convert light energy into direct current suitable for wound treatment. That is, when the patch according to the present invention is applied to a wound area of a skin or the like, the organic solar cell absorbs visible light in the room or outside, and potentials are generated at both ends of the electrode under the patch from the collected photovoltaic energy This electric potential causes ion currents in the wound to be generated, thereby generating electrical stimulation at the wound area of the skin, thereby promoting wound healing.

Accordingly, the patch according to the present invention provides sustained and long-term electrical stimulation until the wound treatment is completed by absorbing the visible light in the room / outdoor, thereby exhibiting an improved wound treatment promotion effect as compared with the conventional wound treatment dressing.

In one embodiment, the substrate 10 is not limited as long as it is a flexible material or a rubber or polymer film that can be used for a substrate. For example, the substrate 10 may be a biodegradable polymer material such as polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), poly (glycolic acid) (PGA), polycaprolactone (PCL), polylactide or polylactic acid (PLA), polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA), polyhydroxybutyrate, PHB), polybutylene succinate (PBS), poly (L-lactide-co-ε-caprolactone), PLCL, and mixtures thereof And the like.

In one embodiment, the organic solar cell 20 may be a flexible device and may be any photovoltaic material commonly used in organic solar cells as an electric stimulation generator, But are not limited to, conjugates of poly (3-hexylthiophene) and phenyl-C ₆₁ -butyric acid methyl ester.

The organic solar cell enables a disposable patch using an organic solar cell having mechanical flexibility to attain patch wearability and capable of implementing a flexible device at low cost.

In one embodiment, the outer electrode 30 and the inner electrode 40 may be one selected from the group consisting of a gold-plated electrode, a carbon black composite electrode, and a hydrogel bridle electrode in consideration of biocompatibility.

In one embodiment, the outer electrode 30 is shaped to include the shape and size of the wound, and may be designed in various ways depending on the shape of the wound. In addition, the outer electrode 30 has a shape with a space therein, and may be, for example, circular, elliptical or polygonal, and is preferably annular, but is not limited thereto. The inner electrode 40 is located inside the outer electrode 30, preferably at the center of the outer electrode 30. The electrode may be a noble metal electrode or an electrolyte electrode such as a brassiere in consideration of biocompatibility.

The outer electrode 30 is connected to the anode of the organic solar battery 20 by the metal wire 35 and the inner electrode 40 is connected to the cathode of the organic solar battery 20 by the metal wire 45. [ do. Therefore, the electric stimulus generated by the organic solar cell 20 is arranged in the direction in which the wound is healed via the outer electrode 30. [

In one embodiment, the metal wire 35 and the metal wire 45 may independently be one selected from the group consisting of silver, copper, silver plated copper, and nickel plated copper.

In one embodiment, the film 50 comprises a biodegradable polymeric material such as poly (glycolic acid), PGA, polycaprolactone (PCL), polylactide or polylactic acid (PLA) Polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA), polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB), polybutylene succinate (PBS), poly (L-lactide-co-epsilon -caprolactone) poly (L-lactide-co-ε-caprolactone), PLCL], and mixtures thereof. Preferably, the film may be a transparent film.

In one embodiment, the organic photovoltaic patch can be disposable, which can be achieved by using a photovoltaic material used in organic solar cells as an inexpensive material.

In one embodiment, the organic photovoltaic patch can generate a suitable electric field for wound healing of the skin, for example, generate a direct current of 40-200 mV / mm.

The patch of the present invention is biocompatible with skin and can be mass-produced at low cost. In addition, the patches of the present invention may not be accompanied by external drug delivery, and thus may be used in a patient-friendly manner of treatment in wound healing.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in more detail with reference to examples. However, the following examples are intended to illustrate the present invention, and the scope of the present invention is not limited thereto.

<Examples>

1. Fabrication of organic solar cell

Organic solar cells have been reported in the prior art (Oh JY, Lee TI, Myoung JM, Jeong U, Baik HK. Coating on a cold substrate largely enhances power conversion efficiency of the bulk heterojunction solar cell. Macromol Rapid Commun. 2011; 32: 1066-71 ). &Lt; / RTI &gt; As an electron transport layer, zinc oxide (ZnO) was deposited on a patterned ITO-glass substrate by a sol-gel method. ZnO / ITO glass substrates were spin-coated with photoactive solution (P3HT: PCBM, 2 wt%, 1: 1 w / w, in m-xylene). The photoactive layer (150 nm) was then spin-coated with a PEDOT: PSS layer (40 nm) as a hole transport layer and the substrate was annealed at 150 ° C for 10 minutes in a N ₂ stream. At high vacuum (less than 10 ^-6 torr), a silver (Ag) electrode was evaporated as a top electrode on the PEDOT: PSS layer. Three separate photovoltaic devices (16 mm ² ) were connected in parallel within the substrate. The organic solar cell was wrapped with epoxy for ambient stability and connected to wound electrode by metal wire.

2. Manufacture of electrode for wound healing and production of patch integrated body

Two concentric-circle electrodes plated with gold (Au) were fixed to the surface of a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) elastomer substrate and connected to the cathode and anode of the organic solar cell with metal wires . The inner electrode was located at the center of the PDMS substrate diameter and had a diameter of 4 mm. The outer electrode had an inner diameter of 15 mm and a thickness of 3 mm. The organic solar cell and the wound healing electrode were connected by metal wire welding, and the two parts were filled with PDMS elastomer to integrate the two parts.

The patch integrated, except for the electrode portion, was wrapped with a transparent sterile film (Tegaderm ^TM , 3M Health Care, St. Paul, MN, USA).

3. Characterization

The photovoltaic characteristics of the prepared patches were measured using a Keithley 2400 source measurement device under air white LED light (DI-LED-6W, SFS Lighting, China). The generated current voltage according to the incident angle considering the resistance when the patch is applied to the wound is shown in Table 1 below.

Light angle (°) Applied current (μA) Applied voltage (V) 0 4.80 0.45 25 4.80 0.44 50 4.20 0.41 75 3.75 0.36

4. Wearable Of OPP  Production and characterization

FIG. 2 shows a schematic structure of an organic photovoltaic patch (OPP) manufactured. Three organic solar cells patterned as an inverted structure type having better stability in air were fabricated on a substrate and the device was electrically connected in parallel. An annular electrode fixed on the PDMS substrate was combined with the organic solar cell portion (Group S, Figure 3C). Further, a patch without a solar cell / electrode (group WD, FIG. 3A) and a patch without a solar cell (group E, FIG. 3B) were respectively fabricated.

FIG. 4 shows results of animal experiments in which a wound (1.8 cm ² x 1.8 cm ² ) was induced in a nude mouse, etc., and a change in the wound area was observed after 15 days by attaching an organic solar cell-based photovoltaic patch. As a result, it was found that the photovoltaic patches based on organic solar cells were not used in the solar cell group using organic photovoltaic patches (electrode only) The expression of angiogenic factors (VEGF, FGF2) was confirmed by western blot analysis. An increase in the angiogenic factor secreted from the wound site not only induces the inflow of cells essential for skin healing to the wound area but also plays a crucial role in wound regeneration by enabling blood vessels to be formed and blood flow to be generated later in the lesion .

FIG. 5 shows the amount of increased angiogenic cells (pericyte, CD34 +) and the amount of factors (CD31 +, PECAM) involved in capillary blood vessel formation in the wound region as the angiogenic factor secretion amount ascertained in FIG. As a result of the experiment, it was found that the organic solar cell based photovoltaic patch was not used in the solar cell group using organic photovoltaic patches (electrode only) Of CD34 + and CD31 + are expressed. These results indicate that organic photovoltaic patches based on organic solar cells generate sufficient stimulus to promote wound regeneration, which means that expression of growth factors and cell inflow associated with wound regeneration are significantly increased. Therefore, when the organic photovoltaic patch based on the organic solar cell is used on the wound area, it is expected that active skin regeneration is possible by promoting the self-wound regeneration ability (growth factor expression, cell migration promotion) without using additional drugs.

10: substrate
20: Solar cell
30: outer electrode 35: metal wire
40: inner electrode 45: metal wire
50: Film

Claims (11)

A substrate 10;
An organic solar cell 20 located above the substrate 10;
An outer electrode 30 located below the substrate 10 and having an inner space therein;
A metal line 35 connecting the anode of the organic solar cell 20 and the outer electrode 30;
An inner electrode (40) located below the substrate (10) and positioned inside the outer electrode (30);
A metal line 45 connecting the cathode of the organic solar cell 20 and the inner electrode 40; And
A film 50 adhered to the outside of the substrate 10, the organic solar battery 20, the outer electrode 30, and the inner electrode 40,
&Lt; / RTI &gt;
The patch according to claim 1, wherein the substrate (10) is a rubber or a polymer film.
The method of claim 1, wherein the substrate (10) is selected from the group consisting of polydimethylsiloxane, poly (glycolic acid), PGA, polycaprolactone (PCL), polylactide or polylactic acid Polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA), polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB), polybutylene succinate (PBS), poly (L-lactide-co-epsilon -caprolactone) (L-lactide-co-ε-caprolactone), PLCL], and mixtures thereof.
The method of claim 1, wherein the organic solar cell (20) is a poly (3-hexylthiophene) [poly (3-hexylthiophene) , P3HT] phenyl and -C ₆₁ - acid methyl ester [phenyl-C ₆₁ -butyric acid methyl ester, PCBM].
The patch according to claim 1, wherein the outer electrode (30) and the inner electrode (40) are one selected from the group consisting of a gold-plated electrode, a carbon black composite electrode, and a hydrogel bridle electrode.
The patch of claim 1, wherein the outer electrode (30) is annular.
The patch according to claim 1, wherein the inner electrode (40) is located at the center of the outer electrode (30).
The patch according to claim 1, wherein the metal wire (35) and the metal wire (45) are independently selected from the group consisting of silver, copper, silver plated copper and nickel plated copper.
The method of claim 1, wherein the film (50) is selected from the group consisting of poly (glycolic acid), PGA, polycaprolactone (PCL), polylactide or polylactic acid Polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA), polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB), polybutylene succinate (PBS), poly (L-lactide-co-epsilon -caprolactone) [poly -lactide-co-ε-caprolactone), PLCL], and mixtures thereof.
The patch of claim 1, wherein the patch is disposable.
The patch of claim 1, wherein the patch generates a direct current of 40-200 mV / mm.

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