Sarih Norfatirah Muhamad, Dzulkafly Nuur Syuhada, Maher Simon, Rashid Azura A
School of Materials and Mineral Resources Engineering, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Engineering Campus, Nibong Tebal 14300, Penang, Malaysia.
Department of Electrical Engineering and Electronics, University of Liverpool, Liverpool L69 3GJ, UK.
Polymers (Basel). 2022 Jul 28;14(15):3048. doi: 10.3390/polym14153048.
Glove tear or perforation is a common occurrence during various activities that require gloves to be worn, posing a significant risk to the wearer and possibly others. This is vitally important in a clinical environment and particularly during surgical procedures. When a glove perforation occurs (and is noticed), the glove must be replaced as soon as possible; however, it is not always noticeable. The present article is focused on the design and development of a novel fluorescence-based sensing mechanism, which is integrated within the glove topology, to help alert the wearer of a perforation in situ. We hypothesized that natural rubber gloves with curcumin infused would yield fluorescence when the glove is damaged, particularly when torn or punctured. The glove design is based on double-dipping between Natural Rubber Latex (NRL) and an inner layer of latex mixed with curcumin, which results in a notable bright yellow-green emission when exposed to UV light. Curcumin (Cur) is a phenolic chemical found primarily in turmeric that fluoresces yellowish-green at 525 nm. The tear region on the glove will glow, indicating the presence of a Cur coating/dipping layer beneath. NRL film is modified by dipping it in a Cur dispersion solution mixed with NRL for the second dipping layer. Using Cur as a filler in NRL also has the distinct advantage of allowing the glove to be made stronger by evenly distributing it throughout the rubber phase. Herein, the optimized design is fully characterized, including physicochemical (fluorescence emission) and mechanical (tensile and tear tests) properties, highlighting the clear potential of this novel and low-cost approach for in situ torn glove detection.
手套撕裂或穿孔在各种需要佩戴手套的活动中很常见，这对佩戴者以及可能对其他人都构成重大风险。在临床环境中，尤其是在外科手术过程中，这一点至关重要。当手套出现穿孔（并且被发现）时，必须尽快更换手套；然而，穿孔并非总是能被注意到。本文重点关注一种新型的基于荧光的传感机制的设计与开发，该机制集成在手套结构中，以帮助原位提醒佩戴者手套出现穿孔。我们假设注入姜黄素的天然橡胶手套在受损时，特别是在撕裂或刺破时会产生荧光。手套设计基于在天然橡胶乳胶（NRL）和与姜黄素混合的内层乳胶之间进行两次浸渍，当暴露于紫外光下时会产生明显的亮黄绿色发射。姜黄素（Cur）是一种主要存在于姜黄中的酚类化合物，在525nm处发出黄绿色荧光。手套上的撕裂区域会发光，表明下面存在Cur涂层/浸渍层。通过将NRL膜浸入与NRL混合的Cur分散溶液中进行第二次浸渍层来对其进行改性。在NRL中使用Cur作为填料还具有明显的优势，即通过在整个橡胶相中均匀分布Cur可使手套更坚固。在此，对优化设计进行了全面表征，包括物理化学（荧光发射）和机械（拉伸和撕裂测试）性能，突出了这种新颖且低成本的原位检测撕裂手套方法的明显潜力。
