[ad_1]
Photo by ian dooley on Unsplash
Researchers in North America have developed a sensor that could allow burn victims to feel again.
Using nanotechnology techniques, a team from the University of Connecticut (Uconn) is developing a sensor that could help create artificial skin that can replicate, or even exceed, the detection capabilities of human skin. "It would be very cool if she had abilities that human skin does not have; for example, the ability to detect magnetic fields, sound waves and abnormal behaviors, "said Uconn chemist Islam Mosa.
Islam and his co-chemist at UConn, James Rusling, as well as a University of Toronto engineer, Abdelsalam Ahmed, have already made a sensor using a silicone tube wrapped in a copper wire and filled with a special fluid tiny particles one-billionth of a meter long, called nanoparticles. " An electric current is generated when the nanoparticles move around the tube, the copper wire capturing it as a signal, which varies depending on the friction of the tube. The researchers hope that this breakthrough could result in artificial skin that would give burn victims a sense of touch and offer parents a portable monitor for their children that, for example, would trigger an alert if they fell into dangerous waters. It is also hoped that this will "serve as an early warning for workers exposed to dangerously high magnetic fields".
The next step is to test the sensor and see how it reacts to heat and cold, then "make the sensor in a flat, more skin-like configuration, and check if it is still working."
The research was published in an article by Advanced Materials.
[ad_2]
Source link
