Carla Silva, CTO of the Center for Nanotechnology and Smart Materials (CENTI) in Portugal, said people should develop new products for skin treatment because their skin becomes more sensitive as they get older.
When the sensitivity of the skin increases, a painful bacterial infection such as dermatitis such as eczema occurs.
To solve these bacterial infections in an environmentally friendly way, the EU-sponsored SKHINCAPS project uses nanotechnology to inject concentrated essential oil into small capsules.
These capsules are programmed to release vegetable oil that is contained only when bacteria that cause skin infections are present. This means that each capsule increases its effectiveness after direct contact with infected skin.
According to Dr. Silva, project coordinator at SKHINCAPS, nanocapsules are attached to clothing materials as covalent bonds, the strongest chemical bonds found in nature. If you do this, the capsule will not be damaged even when turned on the washing machine, and it will not be visible to the human eye.
This nanotechnology has a lifetime as long as clothing, but the active ingredients in the nanocapsules are exhausted earlier depending on the degree of skin infection. Thus, how much vegetable oil is released when clothes are applied determines the lifetime of the capsules.
SKHINCAPS is also developing additional nanocapsules containing vitamins and antioxidants to make anti-aging cosmetics.
This type of nanocapsule protects the skin from aging due to sun exposure or temperature changes and releases antioxidants. Contact with skin at the appropriate temperature and pH will maximize the effect.
