The tiny sensor detects air pollution

Japanese scientists have just created a type of nail-sized sensor to measure air pollution.

This tiny photochemical sensor is made of glass material, has 8 mm x 8 mm square and is only 1 mm thick. Users can carry this sensor anytime anywhere to track the air quality they are breathing.

The research team at the Energy and Environmental Systems Laboratory of NTT Group in Tokyo said: ' In the future, you can measure air pollution at the end of the working day before you return. home '.

Depending on the situation, users can let this tiny sensor out of the air for an hour, a day, a week, or longer, to accumulate contaminants into the sensor. Then, the user captures this sensor with a mobile phone and the software installed in the phone will analyze the data contained in the sensor.

Users can also send data to a research center to analyze and map pollution or forecast pollution for a designated area. However, according to the research team, 'it would be convenient if the data is analyzed by the mobile phone camera you are using.'

Sensors detect pollution only as small as a nail.(Photo: AFP)

Experts say nitrogen in the exhaust fumes of vehicles and other chemicals interact with each other in sunlight to produce harmful photochemical oxidants in the atmosphere.These oxidants interact with the compounds available in microscopic holes of the sensor, the spectrum on the sensor will vary depending on the concentration of the oxidants.

Currently, this change cannot be seen with the naked eye, so experts find solutions to display them. At the same time, sensors are being improved to have a ' refresh ' function (repeat the display or data storage).

According to the research team, knowing the air quality in the living environment is very important, because through that, the necessary measures will be implemented promptly to protect human health.

Truc Thinh