A pressure sensor that can even weigh a feather was designed by scientists from the University of Sussex. They plan to use it in medicine. For example, to measure heart rate or respiration.
The development of the British is based on a composite polymer material that can stretch almost twice. During stretching, its resistance changes very smoothly — almost 10 million times compared to the initial state,
reported in the journal Advanced Functional Materials.
The device is able to respond to changes in pressure of 0.1% and withstand stretching by an additional 80% of its length compared to existing analogues. This allows it to be used both for determining the mass of a conventional fluff and for more serious measurements.
“Developers of modern foil-based pressure sensors typically prefer accuracy and reliability of measurements to the detriment of sensitivity and the range of measured values. Nanocomposite materials are devoid of these drawbacks, however, their implementation is hindered by non-linear effects, due to which the measurements can be unpredictable. Our sensors have no such problem,” said Sean Ogilvy, lead author of the study.
A few days ago, a study by scientists from the University of California at Irvine showed that to become a man
invisible, he will need the ability of an octopus. Researchers were able to grow mammalian cells endowed with adjustable transparency and light-scattering characteristics, like cephalopods.