Single Nanoribbon Sensor as an In Situ Monitor

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Single Nanoribbon Sensor as an In Situ Monitor
by Michael Berger

Nanoribbons, which are attracting much attention due to their well-defined geometry and perfect crystallinity, require complex and expensive equipment to fabricate. Researchers in China have succeeded in fabricating a single nanoribbon sensor and demonstrated its use as a potential in situ monitor to track blood glucose levels, suitable for potential use by diabetics.

Nanoribbon sensors are often made from ZnO or SnO2. The Chinese researchers synthesized long nanoribbons, millimeters in length, with a super high width-to-thickness ratio from the mineral mullite (2SiO2·3Al2O3) – a crystal that has needle like structures and, due to its properties, is a valuable ingredient to products that need to withstand high temperatures, corrosive environments, or other adverse conditions. Mullite is an important constituent in porcelain and other ceramics.

Professor Mingwang Shao from the Anhui Key Laboratory of Functional Molecular Solids at Anhui Normal University in PR China, together with colleagues from the Center of Super-Diamond and Advanced Films at City University of Hong Kong, recently published a paper, titled "Single mullite nanoribbon as a glucose sensor" were published in the June 26, 2006 online issue of Nanotechnology.




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