Although many measures are in place to prevent contamination, pollutants such as mercury and lead can still end up in the environment. Sensing them often requires complicated processes, but what if you could detect them with the tap of a fingertip? Researchers reporting in ACS Nano have developed a self-powered nanosensor that can discover small amounts of mercury ions and immediately report the result.
Credit: ACS Nano (2023). DOI: 10.1021/acsnano.2c10770 Mercury in its Hg2+ form can be harmful if consumed through contaminated water or food, so researchers have developed various mercury sensors. One of these was integrated into a glove for on-site monitoring, but it couldn't detect the ion in small amounts and required a constant supply of external power. Instead, attention is now turning to self-powering systems, such as those driven by the triboelectric effect—a form of static electricity. Not only does this generated electricity keep the device running, but its voltage can be used to signal the presence of a…