Groups of researchers in Japan and the U.S. have jointly developed a material — a coated carbon nanotube — that could realize a low-cost, easy-to-carry toxic gas sensor that works with smartphones.
The researchers at the National Institute for Material Science (NIMS) in Ibaraki Prefecture and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology announced Thursday that the material is a carbon nanotube coated with insulating polymer.
Carbon nanotube is normally highly conductive, but the insulating polymer serves to significantly lower the tube's conductivity.