University students realized that people with long fingernails and calloused fingertips had trouble operating smartphones, so they created a prototype of an abrasive that turns fingernails into touchscreen stylus.
Manasi Desai, a student at Centenary University in Louisiana with an interest in cosmetic chemistry, launched the project with her research advisor, Joshua Lawrence, an associate professor of chemistry at Centenary University. Their goal was to create a clear, non-toxic polish that would allow fingernails to access touch screens in the same way that human fingertips do.
Article continues below
you may like
Desai and Lawrence presented their research on Monday (March 23) at the American Chemical Society’s annual meeting.
Who needs touchscreen polish?
Today, touch screens are nearly ubiquitous, but some people don’t have as much access to them as others. For example, a guitarist or carpenter with calluses on their fingers may not be able to register their touch on the screen because the skin on their fingertips blocks the flow of electricity. This is what Consumer Reports called “zombie fingers” in 2015. But it’s also difficult to use a touchscreen if a person’s hands are gloved, very dry, or have long fingernails.
Researchers asked phlebotomists with long fingernails who have trouble using smartphones whether a touchscreen-compatible nail polish could help them, and after getting a resounding “yes,” they set out to develop a new product.
“Chemists are here to solve problems and make the world a better place,” Lawrence said in a statement.
The touch screens on modern tablets and smartphones work through a property called capacitance. A small electric field is created on the screen, and when a conductive object, such as a finger, touches the screen, the electric field is interrupted. The screen records disruptions, or changes in capacitance, as you touch a specific location. However, tapping the screen with a non-conductive material such as your fingernail will not be recognized as a touch.
Previous attempts by researchers to create capacitive nail polish focused on including carbon nanotubes or metal particles to give the nails electrical conductivity. However, these particles are dangerous if inhaled and limit the color range of your polish.
For her project, Desai systematically tested 13 commercially available clearcoat nail polishes and more than 50 additive combinations to find one that met three criteria: It is transparent, non-toxic, and forms a conductive top coat.
What to read next
In his experiments, Desai found that the most effective polishes contained the amino acid taurine and the organic molecule ethanolamine (amino alcohol). Combining taurine and ethanolamine additives created a formula that registers as a touch on your smartphone.
The new polish formulation was designed to work through acid-base chemistry rather than including metal additives. In acid-base chemistry, acids donate protons and bases accept protons.
Because a mixture of taurine and ethanolamine (ammonium acid and amine base) works well, Lawrence told LiveScience in an email that “we believe the material we are making is working via protons hopping from acidic groups to basic groups.” “We believe that proton exchange takes place between acidic and basic groups on the surface of the polish, playing the same role as ion transport in the skin,” Lawrence said.
However, it will be a while before the polish hits stores. Nail polish still doesn’t work long enough. “All of our formulations lose potency quickly,” Lawrence says. “They stop working after a few hours or a few days, but we want them to work for at least a few days or weeks.”
Desai and Lawrence are working to find the most effective combinations of ingredients and fine-tune the current formulations to make them non-toxic. Currently, the least toxic formulations they have come up with produce a grainy, speckled finish, “certainly not high fashion,” Lawrence says.
The researchers have already applied for a provisional patent for their invention. “Right now, we have enough proof-of-concept material, but we need to do more work,” Lawrence said.
Source link
