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Silly Putty is not just for making stretchy faces any more. Scientists have found that by adding graphene you get a very sensitive strain detector.
It's easy to dismiss Silly Putty as a kid's toy. But the stretchy material actually exhibits some surprising properties: It's one of the softest plastics around, and it can behave like both a liquid and a solid, oozing when gently stretched but bouncing off surfaces like a rubber ball when hurled. And when you mix Silly Putty with graphene—strong, conductive carbon sheets with unusual physical properties—it becomes an incredibly sensitive strain detector that can track blood pressure, heart rate, and even a spider's footsteps.
[...] That change makes g-putty about 500 times more sensitive than other deformation-detecting materials, which would respond to a similar compression with a mere one-percent change in electrical resistance. The results were published in the journal Science.
[...] This type of material could be used in the electromechanical sensors that measure vibrations. Specifically, the soft putty is a perfect candidate for measuring bodily motion. A squishy, unobtrusive sensor could track a baby's breathing, for example, without irritating or disturbing the child. Placed over a pulse point, a similar sensor could measure not only heart rate, Coleman claims, but blood pressure as well.
Changes in blood pressure often precede negative changes to a patient's status. So, Coleman says, "If you could continuously measure blood pressure, you would have a fantastic way of measuring the wellness of someone. This sensor can do that, and it can do it cheaply."
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 11 2016, @05:08PM
Saw this yesterday and by coincidence have also spent the last week investigating DIY graphene via electrolysis and other methods for various applications such as batteries, adding to plastics for strength etc.
I am also currently in the process of building a midi box with various attachments using a raspberry pi, various buttons/switches and some analogue to digital converters. Among the pedals and other stuff I will be plugging in I wanted to make a breath controller, a music glove using flex controllers and some drum pads using pressure controllers.
For the pads I was going to use Piezoelectric pickups which are very cheap. But the pressure differential sensors for the breath controller (ones sensitive and fast enough) are much more expensive as are the flex controllers for the glove.
This article means I will be manufacturing some graphene and silly putty at home and running experiments and (hopefully) still saving money on the deal while having fun. :)
Calibration will be a major issue for many applications but since the above relies on relative measures rather than absolute I can dynamically calibrate the system on the fly. To isolate the pads from each other I will have to use rubber and such so there is no bleed over.
Playing with the concentrations of the graphene to alter the sensitivity will also be required I think.
I might also try pressure sensitive finger pads also. The ones you buy cheaply tend to suck for accuracy and it would be interesting to see if you cannot get a better result from this stuff.
Even if it does not work it will be fun anyway. If it does work...I think I might youtube it for others - something I don't do normally.
(Score: 2) by rob_on_earth on Monday December 12 2016, @10:47AM
when you get it work please write an exclusive post for soylentnews, I, for one would be interested in hearing about it.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 14 2016, @02:52AM
You mean IF... ;)
Its an experiment and like all experiments it will take trial and error and possibly not work. The trick is to enjoy the journey.
But if it does, and maybe if it does not, I will post something.