Sensors

Sensors are ubiquitous both in the natural world (eyes, ears, noses etc) and in manufactured devices. They lend themselves naturally to nanotechnology as there is usually no inherent benefit to them being large; they can also be designed using ideas borrowed from nature. Nanoparticles, such as noble metal gold nanoparticles, semiconductor quantum dots, magnetic nanoparticles can all be used for sensing. 

Sensors being worked on in the LCN include biological and chemical sensors based on cantilevers, electrochemistry and electron spectroscopy.

Research Highlights
Transparent Oxide-Photosensor for Contact-free Interactive Displays - Nature Materials, Feb 2012
Doped diamond structures offer promise for biotechnology applications

Sensors
Label-free nanomechanical sensors: speeding up the discovery of new antibiotics to target drug resistant superbugs. [courtesy Rachel McKendry; doi: 10.1038/nnano.2008.275]

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