2020 Nanotechnology Engineering Capstone Design Projects

Microplastic pollution in water is on the rise globally, including in Canadian freshwater. Current detection methods are laborious, requiring large sample volumes and producing results that are often difficult to interpret due to the varying ranges of sizes in microplastics. Our design aims to demonstrate a portable probe that will confirm the presence of common microplastics in a body of water and indicate whether further sampling should be performed in the area. The device combines size-based filtration and miniaturized Raman spectrometry to provide a qualitative indication of polyethylene, polypropylene and polystyrene particles in the range of 0.1 to 1 mm.

Team members: Emma Kennedy, Michael Johnson, Simran Chathanat and Natalie Pinchin.

Flexible displays are an emerging technology that will enable enhanced user experience through bendable mobile devices such as phones and tablets. Conventional rigid devices have anti-reflection coatings that reduce glare in bright environments, such as outside on a sunny day. These coatings consist of several thin layers of brittle materials and are susceptible to breaking upon bending. We demonstrate a flexible anti-reflection coating composed of a single layer of nano-scale cones to minimize glare. Our coating is simple to make, resilient to bending and can be applied to plastics and glass such that it can be used in applications from flexible displays to solar cells.

Team members: Nathan Zeeb, Daniel McHaffie, Phillippe Pearson and Jared Sisler

Regenerative medicine is a rapidly advancing field that uses stem cells to regrow, repair or replace damaged cells and tissues to treat a wide array of diseases. Unfortunately, stem cell therapies have not yet realized their true potential due to the difficulty of producing the large number of undifferentiated stem cells required per treatment. To keep up with the growing demand, we are introducing a high-density (Hi-ρ) 3D bioreactor with nano-topographical features to increase cell proliferation while maintaining cell pluripotency. This system will produce a high number of viable stem cells that can be used to treat multiple diseases, including cardiovascular disease and leukemia.

Fezza Haider, Arianna Skirzynska, Chelsea Leung and Xinci (Cindy) Yang.

It is estimated that 50% to 70% of applied fertilizer is lost to water through run-off or to the atmosphere through evaporation. This fertilizer loss is costly and disadvantageous for farmers as well as harmful to the environment. Controlled-release fertilizers were created to reduce fertilizer loss. However, they are usually made using plastic polymer coatings that are non-biodegradable and harmful to the environment. Plantiful designed a multi-layered controlled-release fertilizer that allows fertilizer to slowly diffuse through a biodegradable, natural polymer coating to reduce fertilizer loss and environmental impact.

Team members: Larisa Cousineau, Alain Hong, Guan Ying Wang and Allan Huang. 

Time-resolved laser-induced incandescence (TiRe-LII) is an advanced method for determining size properties of nanoparticles suspended in air (nanoaerosols).  Accurate nanoaerosol characterization is essential for developing technologies that utilize aerosols and for protecting the public from their potential dangers. Successful calibration of a TiRe-LII system relies on a source of uniformly-sized and well-separated nanoaerosols. We propose to address this by constructing a novel spark discharge generator capable of quick swapping between electrodes. The unique design promises for cheap, unagglomerated particle generation while efficient electrode exchange will allow for a variety of different metal nanoaerosols to be tested. This will be useful for furthering TiRe-LII research and the design is additionally applicable to a broad range of emerging nanoaerosol technologies.

Team members: Daniel Zeitler, Xueyan (Emma) Su and Biplav Chapagain, Cameron Romanet.

Household air quality is an important yet often disregarded aspect of respiratory health and comfort. Currently, furnace filters are the primary residential method used to clean air, but they are infrequently replaced. Our group is proposing a low-maintenance air quality sensor to detect airborne particulate matter present in the home, operating via light scattering theory. This device will continuously record light intensities and scattering angles to be used to extrapolate particle size. It will also provide feedback when high concentrations of airborne particles are detected and advise the user when their filter should be replaced.

Team members: Keiran Sawatzky, Jacob Yang-Nikodym and Jackson Bornath

Environmental and healthcare monitoring requires the detection of many unique chemicals that require specialized equipment and techniques. We have developed a multi-analyte detection platform for field use that can quickly determine the concentration of a compound of interest using only drops of sample. The platform features a sensor that can be modified to target many different analytes, including the common pesticide carbaryl and the hormone cortisol.

Team members: Shuo Liu, Anson Lau, Mitchel Crombeen and Alan Huang

In recent years, smartphones are mimicking true optical zoom by adding more cameras with more lenses, creating problems like increasing costs, poor aesthetics and infeasible scalability. Most importantly, these cameras still rely on lossy digital cropping to zoom in. Our solution and device is a liquid crystal lens with electrically tunable focus. A series of these lenses allows a camera to optically zoom without any physical movement. Such a system is cheaper, smaller and more scalable than market alternatives; it’s estimated to save five billion dollars across leading smartphone companies per year and has a range of additional applications in communications technology, industrial imaging and scientific metrology.

Team members: Alisha Bhanji, Ishan Mishra, Holden Beggs, Fernando Peña Cantú and Zhenle Cao

The legalization of cannabis in Canada has greatly increased the need for traffic law enforcement to monitor and prevent impaired driving caused by this drug; however, current methods have proven to be unreliable for roadside screening tests on drivers. We have designed a fluorescent sensor dye that can accurately and reliably identify the presence of THC molecules (the psychoactive component of cannabis) in saliva through a simple and rapid process. This technology would be ideal for use by law enforcement as a tool to prevent negligent driving.

Team members: Ralph Angell, Abhishek Mukherjee, Chloe Lai and George Chang

Recalls are the single largest threat to profitability in the meat industry, leading to total costs upwards of $10 billion per year. The source of this problem is bacterial contamination of meat. Our team has developed a material that changes color when it detects the presence of biogenic amines given off by bacteria when meat is metabolized. Our solution, at less than 10 cents a sticker, is reliable, accurate and inexpensive enough for direct integration into individual packages. Currently, we are focused on the meat industry due to the high levels of biogenic amines given off by decomposing meat compared to other food products. However, the underlying technology is applicable to anything that decays through bacterial pathways, like vegetables and fruits.

Team members: Connor Rupnow, Nina Jeorje, Heemal Parimoo and James Oswald

The video game industry constantly strives for greater user immersion. Initially, this was a push for improved graphics, but recently the focus pivoted to immersion through virtual reality (VR). Presently, VR manipulates what you see and can simulate interactions with objects (e.g. gripping a tennis ball), but it does not simulate temperature. To satisfy this niche, we created a VR glove that controls the temperature a person feels. Based on a video game’s input, the glove independently heats or cools each finger and the palm of the hand, enabling an immersive VR experience.

Team members: Owen Neuber, Joel Pennings, Kyle Nikolasevic and Elizabeth Monte

Significant fractions of children and the elderly have difficulty with oral and injectable medication. Transdermal patches are a non-invasive, easy to use alternative for these groups and all others. XRT has developed novel extended-release transdermal drug delivery technology in collaboration with Avro Life Science. A new approach to transdermal patch formulation was taken to design our new class of patch. The result is a uniquely versatile transdermal platform technology capable of delivering numerous common medications ranging from anti-inflammatories to anti-depressants. Patients of all types stand to benefit from the improved compliance and quality of care provided by our non-irritating, long-lasting patches.

Team members: Lauren Meadowcroft, Farihah Wahid-Pedro, Abdulilah Alofi and Charles Goertz

As renewable energy sources grow in popularity, solar panels are being integrated into mobile products and increasingly harsh environments. Glass or polymer layers are typically used to protect solar cells. However, these can be scratched, defaced or damaged, which decreases solar panel efficiency. Our solution is to create a protective multi-layer sacrificial stack up that can be adhered to the top surface of solar panels. Each layer of the stack up can be peeled off when it becomes damaged, preserving a high efficiency pristine panel surface underneath. The successful stack up will create opportunities to harness solar power in conditions that would otherwise damage the panel.

Team members: Sinclair Minshull, Seamus Bannon, Namanish Singh and Lisa Krygsman

Of the 3 million concussions in the United States that occur annually, half go undetected. Consequently, athletes continue to exert themselves and exacerbate the situation, leading to worse acute symptoms, including CTE. Traditional detection methods, such as accelerometers, are expensive and give inconsistent performance due to implementation complications as well as individual differences. Our alternative solution is an affordable and easy-to-use helmet coating capable of concussion detection through fluorescent flagging. The coating is loaded with microcapsules that break upon sufficient impact, releasing the loaded dye and developing colour under UV. With our design, coaches and referees will be able to assess the injury more effectively and act immediately to protect the physical health of athletes.

Team members: Han Liu, Luke Wiersma and Daniel Stranart

Over the past few decades, plastic biodegradation rates have become a tunable property for meeting demands in industrial applications. However, degradation leaves behind microplastics that pollute the environment. In agriculture, plastic mulch films are used to minimize water, pesticide and herbicide losses, with its main component being polyethylene. Ecopoly, a plastics manufacturer, has engineered a mulch film with a 50:50 starch and polyethylene blend. Their recipe enhances biodegradation rates without compromising functionality. We propose an improvement to their existing film design that retains their characteristics but reduces the polyethylene content and improves material uniformity. This is done by altering the 50:50 blend and introducing sorbitol to refine its material properties.

Team members: XiuZheng Wang, Albie Chan, Ahmed Alamoudi, Junaid Siddiqui

Heat related illnesses (HRIs), such as dehydration and heat stroke, can become medical emergencies leading to hospitalization and economic concerns. Athletes, particularly runners who train outdoors in hot climates, are at higher risk for developing HRIs. Using nanotechnology, we have created a novel sweat sensor to noninvasively detect specific analyte concentrations and accurately determine an athlete’s hydration levels. Combining this innovative sensor with a series of off-the-shelf sensors, we are able to offer athletes a wearable device that communicates with the user through a mobile application when they are at risk of developing an HRI.

Team members: Ahmad Lakhani, Eniko Zsoldos, Methely Sharma and Matthew Pley

Heart conditions are a complex and prevalent health issue in our current society. To diagnose heart conditions, doctors often conduct long-term monitoring by attaching to the chest electrodes that detect the electrical impulses that control the beating of the heart. These electrodes can cause severe irritation during application, wearing and removal, especially for those with sensitive skin, such as infants and the elderly.  Thus, we propose a gold nanoparticle-based electrode that is lightweight, porous and easy to apply and remove. Our design eliminates irritation while maintaining the functionality and cost of the existing commercialized electrodes. Our design improves patient compliance that will allow for better test results and thus, more accurate diagnoses of heart conditions.

Team members: Katrina Hedges, Alex Whitbeck, Peter van Nooten and Jasinthan Velalakan

450 million people worldwide suffer from diabetes, and about 1 in every 4 diabetics will develop a chronic foot ulcer. Solutions that tackle diabetic foot ulcer treatment are either very expensive or require multiple medications and method of application, reducing patient compliance. We are developing an all-in-one, drug-infused antimicrobial hydrogel wound dressing to aid in the healing process of diabetic foot ulcers, ensuring a more rapid, proper wound closure while keeping costs low and maintaining high patient compliance. Upon application on the wound area, the drug will diffuse from the hydrogel to the wound which is designed to help wound closure while the hydrogel provides optimal, bacteria-free healing environment.

Team members: Hillman Leung, Tiana Colantonio, Adrianus Matthew Sukuramsyah and Jonathan Wu

Organic semiconductors are a class of materials that are arguably the future of electronic materials; they have a lower environmental and economic cost compared to traditional electronics. However, due to their extreme sensitivity to moisture and humidity, the widespread application of organic electronics has been hampered. eProtect is tackling this problem by creating a tailored coating with multiple lines of defense to prevent the infiltration of water molecules. Our exterior nanocoating uses lotus flower-inspired hydrophobicity to prevent liquid build-up, while our interior layer slows the permeation of liquid molecules.

Team members:Daid Ahmad Khan, Geoffrey Siow, Aubrey Maltz and Haritosh Patel