Honey, I shrunk the hospital
Researchers in the United States have used nanotechnology to create a miniaturised version of a vital piece of medical equipment, bringing a step closer the Star Trekian vision of a hospital in a box.
They also claim that the technology behind the device could be adapted for digital memory applications.
Developed by scientists at California-based research company Nanomix, the tiny capnography sensor – or breathing monitor – is just a fraction of the size of the bulky machines used to measure patients breathing in hospitals.
It is easily small enough to be carried by hand and therefore could be taken to disaster sites by emergency workers. The researchers envisage it being used to verify whether victims are breathing properly and assessing the effectiveness of treatment.
Nanomix scientists have already successfully used the device to monitor breathing under laboratory conditions and are now working with specialists at the University of California to design and test a field-ready medical device.
“This sensing technology will break new ground in the development of medical devices that take advantage of the unique qualities of nanotechnology – small size, low power and high sensitivity,” said Alexander Star, who lead the research.
The secret to the sensors tiny size is a pioneering new transistor that fuses carbon nanotubes, gas-sensitive polymers and silicon to detect levels of carbon dioxide, one of the components of exhaled air.
Doctors in hospitals routinely monitor the amount of carbon dioxide in patients breath to determine the state of their health, but until now it has not been easy to do this out in the field because of the bulkiness of the capnography equipment.
The scientists behind the technology believe that it could also find a use in optoelectronic memory applications, and they have received funding from the National Science Foundations small business innovation programme to develop their research further in this area.
The thinking is that the interaction between the nanotubes and polymers that senses carbon dioxide could be adapted to store the on-off patterns of digital memory.
