Batteryless wireless magnetostrictive Fe30Co70/Ni clad plate for human coronavirus 229E detection

Abstract

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has been garnered increasing for its rapid worldwide spread. Each country had implemented city-wide lockdowns and immigration regulations to prevent the spread of the infection, resulting in severe economic consequences. Materials and technologies that monitor environmental conditions and wirelessly communicate such information to people are thus gaining considerable attention as a countermeasure. This study investigated the dynamic characteristics of batteryless magnetostrictive alloys for energy harvesting to detect human coronavirus 229E (HCoV-229E). Light and thin magnetostrictive Fe-Co/Ni clad plate with rectification, direct current (DC) voltage storage capacitor, and wireless information transmission circuits were developed for this purpose. The power consumption was reduced by improving the energy storage circuit, and the magnetostrictive clad plate under bending vibration stored a DC voltage of 1.9 V and wirelessly transmitted a signal to a personal computer once every 5 min and 10 s under bias magnetic fields of 0 and 10 mT, respectively. Then, on the clad plate surface, a novel CD13 biorecognition layer was immobilized using a self-assembled monolayer of -COOH groups, thus forming an amide bond with -NH₂ groups for the detection of HCoV-229E. A bending vibration test demonstrated the resonance frequency changes because of HCoV-229E binding. The fluorescence signal demonstrated that HCoV-229E could be successfully detected. Thus, because HCoV-229E changed the dynamic characteristics of this plate, the CD13-modified magnetostrictive clad plate could detect HCoV-229E from the interval of wireless communication time. Therefore, a monitoring system that transmits/detects the presence of human coronavirus without batteries will be realized soon.

Keywords: AC, alternating current; APS, aminopropyl silane; BSA, bovine serum albumin; CD13; CTF, corrected total fluorescence; DC, direct current; EDC, 1-Ethyl-3-(3-dimethylaminopropyl) carbodiimide; Energy harvesting; Fluorescence microscopy; HCoV, human coronavirus; IC, integrated circuit; IoT, Internet of things; MES, 2-(N-morpholino) ethanesulfonic acid; MUA, mercaptoundecanoic acid; NHS, N-hydroxysulfosuccinimide; PBS, phosphate-buffered saline; RC, rectifier circuit; SAM, self-assembled monolayer; SARS-CoV-2, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2; Virrari effect; Virus detection; Wireless communications.

Graphical abstract

Fig. 1

(a) Image of a Fe–Co/Ni clad plate; (b) Circuit for energy storage and management; and (c) Schematic of the self-powered wireless communication test setup.

Fig. 2

Schematic of the magnetostrictive clad plate with vibration energy harvesting, wireless communication, and HCoV sensing capabilities. The power storage circuit controls the wireless communication IC.

Fig. 3

Biofunctionalization and measurement steps for the Fe–Co/Ni clad plate.

Fig. 4

(a) HCoV-229E sensing test setup using Fe–Co/Ni clad plate; (b) Photograph of a CD13-modified clad plate cantilever before the testing; (c) CD13-HCoV-229E pseudo-competitive binding assay; and (d) CD13-HCoV-229E pseudo-competitive binding assay.

Fig. 5

(a) DC voltage stored in the capacitor versus time under no bias magnetic field at 115 and 116 Hz; and (b) Experimental data that rapidly accumulates DC voltage under a bias magnetic field of 10 mT at 116 Hz. Even if the communication is transmitted once every 10 s, the storage DC voltage does not decrease.

Fig. 6

CTF values of the fluorescence images of HCoV-229E bound by CD13-modified APS glass slides. The graph plots the corrected total fluorescence values of fluorescence images for both 1 and 24-h incubation periods, n = 3.

Fig. 7

CTF values of the fluorescence images of HCoV-229E bound by CD13-modified APS glass slides for various titers. The graph plots the corrected total fluorescence values of fluorescence images for both 1-h incubation periods, n = 3.

Fig. 8

Frequency change due to PBS and HCoV-229E. Squares with a gray dashed line represent the range of measurement accuracy.

Fig. 9

(a) Fluorescence images of HCoV-229E bound by CD13-modified Fe–Co/Ni clad plate; (b) fluorescence confirmation of HCoV-229E bound by CD13-modified Fe–Co/Ni clad plate.

Fig. A.1

(a) Biofunctionalization of the APS glass slide with a concentration of CD13; (b) CD13-HCoV-229E pseudo-competitive binding.