Wearable Gas Sensor
Researchers have developed a wearable sensor patch that can be used to monitor environmental or human health hazards continuously.
The sensors incorporate nanomaterials that are already widely used for gas sensing, but in order to make them flexible they are deposited by a CO2 laser in a highly porous pattern. Electrical current is applied to a separate series of serpentine lines coated with silver to generate the heat required for the detectors to function. Each sensor is selective for a specific molecule; however, hundreds of sensors can be combined to decode complex mixtures of compounds.
In addition to environmental detection of pollutants or toxins, devices like these could be used to measure gaseous biomarkers from the human body (such as those in exhaled air) or to enhance safety by monitoring exposure to harmful gases in an industrial setting.
For information: Huanyu Cheng, Pennsylvania State University, Materials Research Institute, 307D Earth and Engineering Sciences Building, University Park, PA 16802; phone: 814-863-5945; email: huanyu.cheng@psu.edu; Web site: https://www.psu.edu/ or https://news.psu.edu/story/604190/2020/01/15/research/wearable-gas-sensor-health-and-environmental-monitoring