Temperature-sensitive Engineering From Nature: From Tobacco To Cyberwood
Thursday, April 2, 2015 - 23:20
in Physics & Chemistry
Humans have been inspired by the designs of nature since the beginning of our existence so it only makes sense that to develop an extremely sensitive temperature sensor, engineers took a close look at temperature-sensitive plants. Then they developed a hybrid material that contains, in addition to synthetic components, the plant cells themselves. The result is an electronic module that changes its conductivity as a function of temperature. "No other sensor can respond to such small temperature fluctuations with such large changes in conductivity. Our sensor reacts with a responsivity at least 100 times higher compared to the best existing sensors," says Raffaele Di Giacomo, a post-doctoral researcher at ETH Zurich. read more