Scientists from the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) in Beijing have successfully developed an invisible electrical circuit inside a polymer (dimethylsiloxane) used for making contact lenses. Professor Song Yanlin and his team from the Institute of Chemistry at CAS were able to create this invisible circuit by injecting droplets of fine silver ink into the polymer.

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The silver ink is shaped into a conductive mesh of tiny wires that measure only one micrometer in width. According to the team, the electrical circuit remained functional even after the polymer had been bent numerous times.

The invisible electrical circuit can be used to develop new wearable technologies and devices such as bionic contact lenses for the augmented reality and video game industry, or smart contact lenses capable of monitoring glucose levels in the human eye, and among many other things. 

In addition to bionic and smart contact lenses, the new technology can be used in a wide range of applications such as transparent wearable devices and in artificial skin for monitoring temperature and pressure in prosthetic limbs.

In early 2014, search engine giant Google Inc. announced that it had been working on its own smart contact lens technology that can help patients with diabetes to continuously measure their level of glucose. Working alongside Swiss drugmaker Novartis, the company is planning to begin human tests sometime this year.

As part of the Google Contact Lens project, the "eye-mountable" device uses a wireless chip and a tiny glucose sensor that can transmit data wirelessly to another device.

TagsInvisible Electrical Circuit Bionic Smart Contact Lenses, Chinese Academy of Science Beijing Invisible Circuit, Google Contact Lens