Superelastic Tellurium Thermoelectric Coatings for Advanced Trimodal Microsensing

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Biomedical Engineering
• Sensor Technology

Background:

• Tactile endoscopy offers valuable diagnostic information but lacks temperature perception.
• Temperature is a critical indicator for medical diagnosis.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a novel superelastic thermoelectric visual-tactile sensor for enhanced endoscopic diagnosis.
• To integrate microscale visual, thermal, and force sensing capabilities into a single device.

Main Methods:

• Fabrication of a tellurium-based superelastic thermoelectric sensor with viscoelastic silicone encapsulation.
• Optimization of a tellurium-polymer heterointerface and application of deep neural network algorithms.
• Conducting clinical endoscopic palpation experiments on live rabbits.

Main Results:

• The sensor achieves simultaneous microscale visual, thermal, and force measurements.
• Artifact-free imaging, real-time thermal mapping, and microstructure force feedback were demonstrated.
• Successful tactile diagnosis of inflamed tissue, including temperature distribution, was achieved in rabbit models.

Conclusions:

• The developed sensor represents a breakthrough in visual-tactile endoscopy by incorporating thermal sensing.
• This technology can significantly aid in diagnosing conditions where visual cues are insufficient.
• It paves the way for advanced intelligent endoscopy systems.