Properties of Skin-Mimicking Films in Ionic Solutions

皮肤癌是最常见的癌症形式，加拿大每年有超过80，000例皮肤癌病例。到2020年，防晒和防晒行业预计将达到145亿美元。Suncayr是一家加拿大公司，开发了独特的预防措施，以避免与过度暴露于紫外线辐射相关的常见问题。Suncayr正在创造一种当暴露在紫外线下时会改变颜色的指示器（贴纸）。当涂上防晒霜时，这个标签会给使用者一个保证，当防晒霜不再起保护作用时。该产品有两个功能部分，其中一个是皮肤模仿膜（SMF），其设计表现类似于人类皮肤。在游泳/出汗和用毛巾擦拭时，应以类似于从人体皮肤上去除的速度从SMF表面去除防晒霜。该公司已经发现，SMF无法在盐水中模拟涂有防晒霜的人类皮肤，这需要研究离子溶液中壳聚糖/明胶基CMFs的特性。与淡水相比，了解SMF在盐水离子环境中的性能机制，将指导现有SMF配方的设计和改进，并将导致新产品成功商业化。Suncayrs技术的发展也将在提高加拿大在全球防晒霜和相关防晒行业的竞争力方面发挥作用。

Skin cancer is the most prevalent form of cancer, with over 80,000 cases of skin cancer in Canada annually. Sunscreen and sunprotection industry is projected to reach $14.5 billion by 2020. Suncayr, a Canadian company, develops unique preventativemeasures to avoid the common problems associated with over-exposure to ultraviolet radiation. Suncayr is creating indicators(stickers) that change colour when exposed to ultraviolet light. This sticker when coated with a sunscreen will give the user theassurance as to when the sunscreen is no longer protective. The product has two functional parts, one of which is a skinmimickingfilm (SMF) that is designed to behave similarly to the human's skin. Upon swimming/sweating and toweling, thesunscreen should be removed from the SMF surface at a similar rate to how it is removed from the human skin. The company hasdiscovered that the SMF fails to mimic the sunscreen-coated human skin in salty water, which necessitates the study of theproperties of chitosan/gelatin-based CMFs in ionic solutions. Understanding of the mechanism of SMF properties in the ionicenvironment of salty water, in comparison with fresh water, will guide the design new and improvement of existing SMFformulations and will lead to new products that will be successfully commercialized. The development of Suncayrs technologieswill also play a role in increasing Canadas competitiveness in the global sunscreen and related sun protection industry.