A newly developed nanosensor capable of detecting small forces is filling in a gap in what researchers can monitor in biological systems, robotics, and battery technology.
The sensor uses nanocrystals that emit light in response to pressure, enabling remote monitoring. They are 100 times more sensitive than other nanoparticle-based sensors and, importantly, can measure forces spanning from micronewtons to piconewtons.
Many important systems are shaped by forces across that range, according to Natalie Fardian-Melamed, a postdoctoral scholar in mechanical engineering at Columbia Univ. “These systems are very complex, like embryos developing and cancer spread — we could think of neurons communicating with one another. In the non-biology world, we could think of batteries,” she adds. “It’s a very dynamic range of forces.”
While there are individual sensors that can detect forces within that range, there have not been options for remote probing across that entire range, explains P. James Schuck, an associate professor of mechanical engineering at Columbia Univ., who co-developed the sensor with Fardian-Melamed and...
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