APPLICATION: GRAPHENE NANOCOMPOSITE FOR IMPROVEMENT OF VACCINE TRANSPORTATION COLD CHAIN

Abstract

Vaccines are biological products that must be kept between 2˚C and 8˚C. If not, they lose effectiveness to the point of total inactivity. Seeking to enhance the useful life of vaccines when they must be transported to remote locations, the use of a mobile monitored cooling system (SMRM, by its Spanish acronym) using a graphene-reinforced polymer nanocomposite has been proposed. This nanocomposite improves the cooling or heating speed of thermal, electric, and electronic devices. This improvement aims to ensure that SMRM transported vaccines have a reduced exposure to temperatures outside the specified range, allowing for greater efficiency than when they are transported using commercial systems. As a result of this study, a cooling rate of 1.54 (˚C/min) and energy consumption of 6.67 W/h were achieved, demonstrating a significant improvement, which, compared to commercial systems, yields a 200% higher cooling rate and 41% less energy consumption.