Electronic blood vessels could replace damaged arteries

By Donna Lu

Electronic blood vessels made from a combination of metal and plastic could be used to replace arteries damaged by cardiovascular disease.

Xingyu Jiang at the Southern University of Science and Technology in Shenzhen, China, and his colleagues created their artificial vessel by printing a layer of liquid metal ink, containing gallium and indium, onto a flexible, biodegradble polymer membrane. The liquid metal functions as an electrode.

They then rolled up the polymer into a cylinder to create an artificial blood vessel about 2 millimetres wide.

The team showed …