Highly-sensitive wearable gas sensor looks set for market

Developed by a team at Penn State and Northeastern University, the device is claimed to improve on existing wearable sensors because it uses a self-heating mechanism that enhances sensitivity and allows for quick recovery and reuse of the device. Other devices of this type require an external heater and are fabricated with an expensive and time-consuming lithography process under cleanroom conditions.

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"People like to use nanomaterials for sensing because their large surface-to-volume ratio makes them highly sensitive," said Huanyu Cheng, assistant professor of engineering science and mechanics and materials science and engineering, Penn State. "The problem is the nanomaterial is not something we can easily hook up to with wires to receive the signal, necessitating the need for…interdigitated electrodes, which are like the digits on your hand."