Research & Development World

  • R&D World Home
  • Topics
    • Aerospace
    • Automotive
    • Biotech
    • Careers
    • Chemistry
    • Environment
    • Energy
    • Life Science
    • Material Science
    • R&D Management
    • Physics
  • Technology
    • 3D Printing
    • A.I./Robotics
    • Software
    • Battery Technology
    • Controlled Environments
      • Cleanrooms
      • Graphene
      • Lasers
      • Regulations/Standards
      • Sensors
    • Imaging
    • Nanotechnology
    • Scientific Computing
      • Big Data
      • HPC/Supercomputing
      • Informatics
      • Security
    • Semiconductors
  • R&D Market Pulse
  • R&D 100
    • Call for Nominations: The 2025 R&D 100 Awards
    • R&D 100 Awards Event
    • R&D 100 Submissions
    • Winner Archive
    • Explore the 2024 R&D 100 award winners and finalists
  • Resources
    • Research Reports
    • Digital Issues
    • R&D Index
    • Subscribe
    • Video
    • Webinars
  • Global Funding Forecast
  • Top Labs
  • Advertise
  • SUBSCRIBE

Microscopic fountain pen to be used as a chemical sensor

By R&D Editors | January 15, 2014

The hollow cantilever of an AFM is filled with mercury. The drop at the end is a chemical sensor.An AFM’s cantilever has a fine tip that can be used to map surfaces at the nanoscale. The movements of the tip are monitored using laser light reflected from the cantilever. If you could manufacture a hollow cantilever and pass a liquid through it, as happens in a fountain pen, then you could kill two birds with one stone. In addition to mapping surfaces, you could also use it to make highly localized measurements of the concentration of specific chemicals. This concept was the brainchild of Dr. Peter Schön, a researcher who leads the “Enabling Technologies” Strategic Research Orientation at MESA+ Institute for Nanotechnology at the Univ. of Twente in The Netherlands..

Mercury

The liquid selected was mercury, as it has the ideal properties for this purpose, such as an extremely clean surface. The researchers have created a cantilever with a microscopic tube running through it. The tube’s lining has special mechanical properties, to contain the mercury as it is pumped through under high pressure (6 bar). Using this system, it has proved possible to create a perfect droplet at the tip. The droplet itself is the sensor, moreover it can easily be replaced in situ by a new sensor—the next droplet. It is also important that electrical current is only conducted through the mercury in the microscopic tube and not via parts of the cantilever, so as not to affect the measurement result. This goal, too, was successfully achieved.  

Dual function

A sensor of such exquisite sensitivity can be used to measure concentrations of specific chemicals on biomolecules and biomembranes, for example. It can also be used in combination with AFM, to make highly localized measurements of corrosion while at the same time gathering other information about the surface in question. This makes for a particularly powerful combination of measurement methods.

Details of the “fountain pen’s” mechanism of action were recently published in Analytical Chemistry. The researchers are now focusing on ways of combining this technique with an AFM tip. They are also developing a technique for efficiently releasing the used mercury droplet to make way for a “clean” sensor.

In the course of this study Schön cooperated with micromechanics experts from the Transducers Science and Technology group (which is also part of MESA+) and with a spinoff company, SmartTip (www.smarttip.nl).

Source: Univ. of Twente

Related Articles Read More >

DNA microscope offers new 3D view of organisms from the inside out
A tale of two industries: How manufacturing and medical imaging experts can learn from each other
Dark energy camera captures the glittering galaxies of the Antlia Cluster
R&D 100 winner of the day: Automated digital slide scanner, MSP 320
rd newsletter
EXPAND YOUR KNOWLEDGE AND STAY CONNECTED
Get the latest info on technologies, trends, and strategies in Research & Development.
RD 25 Power Index

R&D World Digital Issues

Fall 2024 issue

Browse the most current issue of R&D World and back issues in an easy to use high quality format. Clip, share and download with the leading R&D magazine today.

Research & Development World
  • Subscribe to R&D World Magazine
  • Enews Sign Up
  • Contact Us
  • About Us
  • Drug Discovery & Development
  • Pharmaceutical Processing
  • Global Funding Forecast

Copyright © 2025 WTWH Media LLC. All Rights Reserved. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of WTWH Media
Privacy Policy | Advertising | About Us

Search R&D World

  • R&D World Home
  • Topics
    • Aerospace
    • Automotive
    • Biotech
    • Careers
    • Chemistry
    • Environment
    • Energy
    • Life Science
    • Material Science
    • R&D Management
    • Physics
  • Technology
    • 3D Printing
    • A.I./Robotics
    • Software
    • Battery Technology
    • Controlled Environments
      • Cleanrooms
      • Graphene
      • Lasers
      • Regulations/Standards
      • Sensors
    • Imaging
    • Nanotechnology
    • Scientific Computing
      • Big Data
      • HPC/Supercomputing
      • Informatics
      • Security
    • Semiconductors
  • R&D Market Pulse
  • R&D 100
    • Call for Nominations: The 2025 R&D 100 Awards
    • R&D 100 Awards Event
    • R&D 100 Submissions
    • Winner Archive
    • Explore the 2024 R&D 100 award winners and finalists
  • Resources
    • Research Reports
    • Digital Issues
    • R&D Index
    • Subscribe
    • Video
    • Webinars
  • Global Funding Forecast
  • Top Labs
  • Advertise
  • SUBSCRIBE