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The breakthrough combined with other improvements to device portability could ultimately mean more freedom for patients with renal failure and less reliance on hospital based dialysis.

Dr Susan Sandeman, Reader in Biomaterials Science from the university’s School of Pharmacy and Biomolecular Sciences, and university colleagues Dr Ganesh Ingavle and Miss Tochukwu Ozulumba, have been collaborating in the development of nano-thin 2D materials which trap urea molecules.

Efficient removal of urea is one of the key challenges associated with the development of the wearable kidney and cannot currently be achieved directly without first producing toxic ammonia.

Dr Susan Sandeman

These 2D nanomaterials, called MXenes, are a family of new transition metal carbide or nitride materials comprised of metals including titanium which are bonded to carbon and/or nitrogen with surface functional groups of oxygen, hydroxide or fluoride. These clay like materials were found to remove significant amounts of urea from kidney patient dialysate and showed good compatibility with human tissue.

The Brighton team has been working with Professor Yury Gogotsi and other nanomaterials researchers from the lead institution, Drexel University in the USA, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center (USA), and Guangxi Medical University and Huazhong University of Science and Technology (China).

Their research has been published in ACS Nano.

Researchers are now looking to further optimise the new materials and to design new wearable artificial devices.

Dr Sandeman said: “The MXene family of materials are highly versatile and once optimised could offer a considerable step forward in the design of the wearable kidney in addition to a whole range of other biomedical applications’ ”