Macquarie University engineers have developed a new method to make the manufacturing of Less carbon-Intensive, Cheaper & More Efficient Nanosensors, improving key processes in a global billion-dollar industry.
The team found a way to process each sensor using a single drop of ethanol instead of the conventional method of heating the material at high temperatures.
Their research, which was published yesterday in the Journal of Advanced Functional Materials, is titled “Combination of synthetic materials that make synthetic materials with high UV performance”.
“Nanosensors usually consist of billions of nanoparticles placed on a small sensor – but most of these sensors do not work when they are first made”, explains the corresponding author, Associate Professor Noushin Nasiri, director of research in Nanotechnology from the Macquarie School of Engineering.
Nanoparticles are assembled into a network connected by weak natural bonds that can leave so many gaps between nanoparticles that they do not transmit electrical signals, so the sensor will not work.
Professor Nasiri’s team made the discovery while working to improve the ultraviolet light sensor, the key technology behind the Sunwatch, which saw Nasiri as the winner of the 2023 Eureka Prize.
Nanosensors have a surface-to-neck ratio made up of layers of nanoparticles, which makes them very sensitive to what they are designed to detect.
But most nanosensors do not work properly until they are heated in a long, powerful 12-hour process that uses high temperatures to bond layers of nanoparticles together, creating channels that allowing electrons to pass through the stage for the sensor to work.
“The fire destroys many sensors based on polymers, nanosensors with small electrodes, such as those in nanoelectronic devices, can melt. Many materials cannot be used to make sensors because they cannot withstand heat,” says Professor Nasiri.
However, the new method discovered by Macquarie bypasses this heat-sensitive method, allowing the nanosensor to be used with many different materials.
“Adding a drop of ethanol to the impact layer, without putting it in the oven, will help the atoms on the surface of the nanoparticles to move, and the space between the nanoparticles to disappear as the particles are coming together,” said Professor Nasiri. said.
“We showed that ethanol improved the performance and response of our sensors, more than what you would get if you cleaned them for 12 hours.”
The new method was discovered when the study’s lead, graduate student Jayden (Xiaohu) Chen, accidentally splashed ethanol on the sensor while washing a crucible, during an event that often destroys the device, these people have influence.
“I thought the sensor was destroyed, but it turned out that the sample performed better than any other sample we did,” says Chen.
Associate professor Nasiri says that the accident may give them that idea, but the effectiveness of the system depends on careful work to determine the exact volume of ethanol used.
“When Jayden found this result, we carefully went back, trying different types of ethanol. He tried again and again to find out what worked,” he says. “It’s like Goldilocks – three microliters is too little but doesn’t do anything effective, 10 microliters is too much and removes the effect layer, five microliters is very good!”
The team has a patent pending for the discovery, which could cause a stir in the world of nanosensors.
“We developed a process for making nanosensors that work and tested it with UV light sensors, as well as nanosensors that detect carbon dioxide, methane, hydrogen and others – the effect is the same,” says Professor Nasiri. say.
“After the ethanol drop has been carefully measured, the sensor is made in about a minute.
Source: Macquarie University.
