"It's called colorized hyperspectral X-ray imaging with multi-metal targets, or CHXI MMT for short," said project lead Edward Jimenez, an optical engineer. Jimenez has been working with materials scientist Noelle Collins and electronics engineer Courtney Sovinec to create X-rays of the future.

"With this new technology, we are essentially going from the old way, which is black and white, to a whole new colored world where we can better identify materials and defects of interest," Collins said.

The team found they could achieve this using tiny, patterned samples of varied metals such as tungsten, molybdenum, gold, samarium and silver.

The Basics of X-ray Creation

To understand the concept, one must understand the basics of X-ray creation. Traditional X-rays are generated by bombarding a single metal target, or anode, with high-energy electrons. Those X-rays are channeled into a beam and directed at a subject or material. Denser tissues, like bone, absorb more X-rays, while less dense tissues, like muscles and organs allow more to pass through. A detector records the pattern, creating an image.

While X-ray technology has advanced over time, the basic concept remains the same, which limits resolution and clarity.

A New Type of X-Ray Image

The Sandia team set out to solve that limitation by making the X-ray focal spot smaller. The smaller the spot, the sharper the image.

They achieved this by designing an anode with metal dots patterned to be collectively smaller than the beam, effectively reducing the focal point.

But the team decided they wanted to push the limits and took the concept a step further.

"We chose different metals for each dot," Sovinec said. "Each metal emits a particular 'color' of X-ray light. When combined with an energy discriminating detector, we can count individual photons, which provide density information, and measure the energy of each photon. This allows us to characterize the elements of the sample."

The result is colorized images with what the team calls revolutionary image clarity and a better understanding of an object's composition.

"We get a more accurate representation of the shape and definition of that object, which is going to allow us to make unprecedented measurements and unprecedented observations," Jimenez said.

Far-reaching applications

The team sees this as a major advancement for X-ray technology with a wide range of uses, from airport security and quality control to nondestructive testing and advanced manufacturing.

They also hope its impact will improve medical diagnostics.

"With this technology, you can see even slight differences between materials," Jimenez said. "We hope this will help better identify things like cancer and more effectively analyze tumor cells. In mammography you are trying to catch something before it grows. In breast tissue, it's hard to identify the different dots, but with colorization you have a sharper beam and higher resolution image that increases the system's capability to detect a microcalcification. It's really exciting to be a part of that."

"From here we will continue to innovate," Collins said. "We hope to identify threats faster, diagnose diseases quicker and hopefully create a safer, healthier world."

The team was recently awarded an R&D 100 award for their technology. They were among six winners from Sandia. Click for R&D 100 Submission video with soundbites.

Also called acne stickers, pimple patches are made of polymers that absorb excess moisture and oil. Some versions contain medications that reduce inflammation or fight infection. These medicated stickers often use microarrays (rows of teensy spikes) that penetrate the skin's outermost layer and deliver compounds underneath. But microarrays may shift during wear and irritate the skin. So, Shayan Fakhraei Lahiji, Yong-Hee Kim and colleagues wanted to design a medicated acne patch system with a microarray platform that stays put.

To create their patch, the researchers first printed a microarray of arrowhead-shaped spikes using a specialized 3D printer. This unique shape helped the patch lock in place when attached to the skin. The patch's backbone is made of hyaluronic acid -- a gooey polymer that's a common skincare ingredient -- that was mixed with either antibacterial agents (including salicylic acid and Cannabis sativa extract) or anti-inflammatory agents (including niacinamide and chamomile extract).

These patches were clinically tested on 20 participants. On the first day, the participants applied the antibacterial patch, and for the next six days, they applied a new anti-inflammatory patch. The hyaluronic acid-based microarray dissolved into the skin within 30 to 90 minutes, with no pain or irritation. After three days, participants noted an 81% reduction in acne lesions in the treated areas compared to untreated pimples, and after seven days, the treated pimples were gone altogether. Additionally, researchers noted a significant reduction in sebum -- an oily substance that causes acne. Around 95% of participants report that they were satisfied with the results of the treatment.

The researchers plan to make their new patch available for purchase in fall 2025, in both South Korea and the United States. In addition, the technology could be reformulated to deliver other therapies, beyond just acne-fighting compounds.

"Our work highlights the potential of microarray patches as a platform for applications beyond acne treatment, ranging from skin disorders to obesity therapies and vaccine delivery," explains Kim.

The authors acknowledge funding from the Technology Development Program of the Korean Ministry of SMEs and Startups; the Korea Health Technology R&D Project through the Korea Health Industry Development Institute; and the Korean Ministry of Health & Welfare.

The authors are employees of Cursus Bio Inc., a company focusing on microarray-based technologies.

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A research team led by Huanyu "Larry" Cheng, James L. Henderson, Jr. Memorial Associate Professor of Engineering Science and Mechanics at Penn State, has developed a sensor that can help diagnose diabetes and prediabetes on-site in a few minutes using just a breath sample. Their results were published in Chemical Engineering Journal.

Previous diagnostic methods often used glucose found in blood or sweat, but this sensor detects acetone levels in the breath. While everyone's breath contains acetone as a byproduct of burning fat, acetone levels above a threshold of about 1.8 parts per million indicate diabetes.

"While we have sensors that can detect glucose in sweat, these require that we induce sweat through exercise, chemicals or a sauna, which are not always practical or convenient," Cheng said. "This sensor only requires that you exhale into a bag, dip the sensor in and wait a few minutes for results."

Cheng said there have been other breath analysis sensors, but they detected biomarkers that required lab analysis. Acetone can be detected and read on-site, making the new sensors cost-effective and convenient.

In addition to using acetone as the biomarker, Cheng said another novelty of the sensor came down to design and materials -- primarily laser-induced graphene. To create this material, the CO2 laser is used to burn the carbon-containing materials, such as the polyimide film in this work, to create patterned porous graphene with large defects desirable for sensing.

"This is similar to toasting bread to carbon black if toasted too long," Cheng said. "By tuning the laser parameters such as power and speed, we can toast polyimide into few-layered, porous graphene form."

The researchers used laser-induced graphene because it is highly porous, meaning it lets gas through. This quality leads to a greater chance of capturing the gas molecule, since breath exhalation contains a relatively high concentration of moisture. However, by itself, the laser-induced graphene was not selective enough of acetone over other gases and needed to be combined with zinc oxide.

"A junction formed between these two materials that allowed for greater selective detection of acetone as opposed to other molecules," Cheng said.

Cheng said another challenge was that the sensor surface could also absorb water molecules, and because breath is humid, the water molecules could compete with the target acetone molecule. To address this, the researchers introduced a selective membrane, or moisture barrier layer, that could block water but allow the acetone to permeate the layer.

Cheng said that right now, the method requires that a person breathe directly into a bag to avoid interference from factors such as airflow in the ambient environment. The next step is to improve the sensor so that it can be used directly under the nose or attached to the inside of a mask, since the gas can be detected in the condensation of the exhaled breath. He said he also plans to investigate how an acetone-detecting breath sensor could be used to optimize health initiatives for individuals.

"If we could better understand how acetone levels in the breath change with diet and exercise, in the same way we see fluctuations in glucose levels depending on when and what a person eats, it would be a very exciting opportunity to use this for health applications beyond diagnosing diabetes," Cheng said.

Funding from the U.S. National Institutes of Health and the U.S. National Science Foundation supported the Penn State contributions to this work. Li Yang, who was a visiting scholar in the Penn State Department of Engineering Science and Mechanics at the time of the research, is the first author. A full list of funding and authors can be found in the paper.