One day, changes in body blood pressure can be monitored using ‘nanowires!’ A new class of components have been created using the piezoelectric effect in semi-conducting zinc oxide nanowires.
These nanowires can detect forces as small as a few piconewtons (10-12 N)! It is roughly the force required for “unzipping” a DNA strand. A piezoelectric effect can produce a current when they are bent.
Though normally, the zinc and oxygen ions’ positive and negative charges in the crystalline nanowires cancel each other out, the wires built by Wang’s team stand vertically on top of an electrode displaces the ions when bent. This phenomenon unbalances the charges and creates an electric field producing a current when the nanowire is connected to a circuit.
According to New Scientist, Yi Ciu of Stanford University told,
This is really great work. The wires have high sensitivity because they are very small, so tiny pressures can be measured.
