Contact lens containing a photonic crystal

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11042044-B2
Application number	US-201715789440-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 20, 2017
Priority date	Mar 17, 2017
Publication date	Jun 22, 2021
Grant date	Jun 22, 2021

Abstract

A contact lens containing a photonic crystal which is configured to change color depending on a concentration of an analyte in the tears of a subject. The change in color is reversible. The contact lens may be useful for monitoring the concentration of glucose in tears of a diabetic subject or a prediabetic subject.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A contact lens, comprising:
a photonic crystal comprising:
a plurality of metal nanoparticle stacks comprising metal nanoparticles, wherein the plurality of metal nanoparticle stacks are spaced such that each metal nanoparticle stack of the plurality of metal nanoparticle stacks is substantially parallel to one another, and wherein a distance between adjacent metal nanoparticle stacks increases or decreases in response to a concentration of an analyte thereby producing a shift in a photonic band gap and a color change in the photonic crystal;
a sensor for measuring the shift in the photonic band gap, and
a hydrogel matrix comprising polyhydroxyethylmethacrylate;
wherein the plurality of metal nanoparticle stacks is arranged within the hydrogel matrix.

2. The contact lens of claim 1 , wherein the metal nanoparticles comprise at least one metal selected from a group consisting of silver, gold, titanium, platinum, iron, cobalt, chromium, molybdenum, vanadium, tin, nickel, and niobium.

3. The contact lens of claim 1 , wherein each metal nanoparticle stack of the plurality of metal nanoparticle stacks comprises 20-200 metal nanoparticles.

4. The contact lens of claim 1 , wherein the photonic crystal comprises up to 100 metal nanoparticle stacks.

5. The contact lens of claim 4 , wherein the photonic crystal comprises 3-6 metal nanoparticle stacks.

6. The contact lens of claim 1 , wherein the distance between adjacent metal nanoparticle stacks is in a range of 140-250 nm.

7. The contact lens of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of metal nanoparticle stacks has a tilt angle in a range of 1-30° measured from a plane of a metal nanoparticle stack to a surface plane of the photonic crystal.

8. The contact lens of claim 1 , wherein the metal nanoparticles are spherical.

9. The contact lens of claim 1 , wherein the metal nanoparticles have an average diameter in a range of 2-20 nm.

10. The contact lens of claim 9 , wherein the average diameter of the metal nanoparticles varies between each metal nanoparticle stack.

11. The contact lens of claim 1 , wherein the metal nanoparticles are randomly dispersed within each metal nanoparticle stack.

12. The contact lens of claim 1 , wherein each metal nanoparticle stack of the plurality of metal nanoparticle stacks comprises metal nanoparticles of monodisperse diameter.

13. The contact lens of claim 1 , wherein the shift in the photonic band gap is reversible.

14. The contact lens of claim 1 , wherein the color change is reversible.

15. The contact lens of claim 1 , wherein the analyte is glucose.

16. A method for detecting a glucose concentration of a subject, the method comprising:
wearing the contact lens of claim 1 , thereby contacting the contact lens to tears produced by the subject; and
detecting the shift in the photonic band gap.

17. The method of claim 16 , wherein the photonic crystal changes color in response to the glucose concentration in the tears.

18. The method of claim 16 , wherein the subject has diabetes.

19. The contact lens of claim 1 , wherein the metal nanoparticle stacks are spaced such that each metal nanoparticle stack of the plurality of metal nanoparticle stacks is aligned to one another at no more than 5° from parallel.

20. The contact lens of claim 1 , wherein the metal nanoparticle stacks are spaced such that each metal nanoparticle stack of the plurality of metal nanoparticle stacks is aligned parallel to one another.

Assignees

• Univ Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal

Inventors

• Abbasi Badaruddin
• Almasoud Naif Nasser

Classifications

• B29D11/00807 Primary

  Producing lenses combined with electronics, e.g. chips · CPC title

• B29D11/00038

  Production of contact lenses · CPC title

• G02C7/04

  Contact lenses for the eyes (disinfection or sterilisation of contact lenses A61L12/00) · CPC title

• A61B5/6821

  Eye · CPC title

• G02C7/049 Primary

  Contact lenses having special fitting or structural features achieved by special materials or material structures · CPC title