Abstract:
Blue-green microalgae/cyanobacterium Arthrospira platensis is a renewable resource, a source of food and feed protein and other valuable compounds (carbohydrates, lipids, vitamins), and can also serve as a material for studying human health monitoring technologies. A suspension was made from microalgae biomass and applied to a solid (SiO$_2$/Si dielectric plate) or flexible substrate (polyethylene terephthalate, PET) using 2D printing technologies. It was found that cyanobacterial films formed at atmospheric pressure react to exhaled air by significantly increasing their conductivity. A layer based on multigraphene and carbon fibers with a cyanobacterial film was formed and tested as a sensor structure. The texture and conductivity of the resulting structures were studied. High sensitivity of their electrical conductivity to human respiration, as well as to mechanical effects such as pressure on the sensor, was shown. It was found that the obtained conductive layer on the carbon fiber surface retains its conductivity under tensile deformations created by bending up to a radius of $\sim$ 2 mm. The mechanism of interaction of synthetic carbon materials with a natural component was discussed.
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