Showing Spotlights 57 - 64 of 218 in category All (newest first):
The detection of carbon monoxide (CO) in the air is a vital issue, as CO is a highly toxic gas and an environmental pollutant. Carbon monoxide is poisonous because it blocks the binding site for oxygen in hemoglobin. It is exactly this principle - a porphyrin ring with a central iron or cobalt atom that the poisonous gas attaches to - that can be used to implement sensors to warn against carbon monoxide. While carbon monoxide sensors have been extensively researched and commercialized, none make use of a molecule that can be voltage-activated using a newly reported method.
Dec 20th, 2017
Moderate exposure to sunlight has significant health benefits, however, exposure to ultraviolet (UV) radiation also is a major risk factor for most skin cancers. That means that, while moderate exposure to sunlight is recommended, there is a fine line to walk between beneficial and harmful amounts of UV exposure. To take the guesswork out of assessing the exposure to damaging UV rays, several wearable consumer UV sensors have already hit the market. Researchers have now proposed a simple and low-cost stick-on nanoplasmonic patch made of optically active silver nanoparticles embedded in a film of nanopaper. The patch changes color once it has been exposed to a certain amount of UV light.
Nov 22nd, 2017
Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are well-ordered, lattice-like crystals. The nodes of the lattices are metals, which are connected by organic molecules. Their size-controllable nanopores, special structure and large surface area make MOFs very attractive materials for next-generation, highly sensitive gas sensors. In new work, researchers demonstrate a process that can be used for developing low-cost and highly sensitive gas sensors. By increasing the sensitivity, the amount of gas sensitive material and device size can be reduced which in turn would reduce the overall cost of the device and energy consumption.
Nov 7th, 2017
Nanotechnology materials are going to open new realms of possibility for flexible and stretchable monitoring gadgets that are wearable directly on the skin. Here we look at the latest developments in a class of electronic devices, commonly referred to as electronic skin, epidermal electronics, or electronic tattoos, from the materials, devices, and medical applications perspectives. While such devices can also be used for prosthetics and rehabilitation, optogenetics, and human-machine interfaces, this review focuses on the properties of the materials that enable skin-mounted sensors for use as diagnostic tools in the medical field.
Sep 26th, 2017
The incidence of food allergies, food sensitivities, and autoimmune reaction is increasing worldwide, particularly among children. Designing a novel device for food testing, researchers have developed a portable, point-of-use technology for rapid, integrated exogenous antigen testing (iEAT). The system consists of a disposable allergen extraction device and an electronic keychain reader for sensing and communication. The extraction kit captures and concentrates food antigens from dispersed food. Captured allergens are then quantified using the miniaturized key-chain reader.
Sep 6th, 2017
Perovskite materials have attracted great attention in the fields of optoelectronics due to their significant optoelectronic properties. So far, the applications of perovskite thin-films have been limited to solar cells because the required high-definition patterning for optoelectronic devices hadn't been achieved yet. Now, though, researchers in Korea have realized a high-resolution spin-on-patterning (SoP) process for the fabrication of optoelectronic devices arrays such as image sensors.
Sep 5th, 2017
Current insulin detection methods are time-consuming with a low sensitivity, and are hence not adequate for rapid and direct detection of insulin at clinically appropriate concentrations. A novel graphene nanotechnology sensor is highly sensitive to changes in the charge distribution on and in the immediate vicinity of the graphene surface and can respond to physiological insulin concentration variations in a sensitive and rapid manner, thereby enabling real-time insulin monitoring.
Aug 30th, 2017
Synthetic nanomotors and DNA walkers, which mimic a cell's transportation system, are intricately designed systems that draw chemical energy from the environment and convert it into mechanical motion. Using such DNA walkers as signal amplifier for nucleic acids detection has only recently been reported. Researchers now report that they converted a DNA walker into a linear fluorescence signal amplifier on a rectangle DNA origami that can improve the detection of target molecules such as nucleic acids.
Aug 21st, 2017
Subscribe to our Nanotechnology Spotlight feed