Transparent fibre sensors 'smell, hear and touch'

The transparent conducting fibres are 100 times thinner than a human hair and could be applied to health monitoring, Internet of Things devices and biosensing.

Microbots could carry sensors and perform medical functions

The fibre printing technique, reported in Science Advances, can be used to make non-contact, wearable, portable respiratory sensors. According to Cambridge University, these printed sensors are high-sensitivity, low-cost and can be attached to a mobile phone to collect breath pattern information, sound and images simultaneously.

First author Andy Wang, a PhD student from Cambridge's Department of Engineering, used the fibre sensor to test the amount of breath moisture leaked through his face covering, for respiratory conditions such as normal breathing, rapid breathing, and simulated coughing. The fibre sensors are said to have significantly outperformed comparable commercial sensors, particularly in monitoring rapid breathing, which replicates shortness of breath.

The fibre sensor has not been designed to detect viral particles - scientific evidence increasingly points to viral particles such as coronavirus being transmitted through respiratory droplets and aerosols – but measuring the amount and direction of breath moisture that leaks through face coverings could act an indicator of 'weak' points in the protection.