Sensors are usually made to detect specific chemical or physical stimuli, making it difficult to create devices that can monitor a variety of different parameters at the same time. Now researchers at Technion-Israel Institute of Technology have developed an unusual sensor, built out of conductive ink formed into origami arrays, that can detect both chemical and physical stimuli.
The device can measure the temperature, humidity, light, and the presence of volatile organic compounds. The technology is also impressive in that it can be used to tell apart isomers and chiral enantiomers of volatile organic compounds, chemical mirrors of otherwise identical molecules. All this at the same time and at high temporal and spatial resolutions.
Certainly the technology has a good deal of applications in medicine, pharma manufacturing and design, and for detection of dangerous chemicals and environmental conditions.
The origami hierarchical sensor arrays that are created using the new technology are fairly cheap to build and can be manufactured in large quantities quickly. They can be used within flexible electronic devices, making them highly applicable to next generation of wearable, stick on, and continuous body monitors.
Study in Nature Communications: Time-space-resolved origami hierarchical electronics for ultrasensitive detection of physical and chemical stimuli…