Explosive Detector Inspired From Silkmoth's Antennas Developed

A team from the "Nanomatériaux pour Systèmes sous Sollicitations Extrêmes" unit (CNRS / Institut Franco-Allemand de Recherches de Saint-Louis), along with the Laboratoire des Matériaux and Surfaces et Procédés pour la Catalyse (CNRS / Université de Strasbourg), have developed a super efficient explosive detector inspired by silkmoth's antennas. Fabricated of  a  200-micron long and 30-micron wide silicon micro-cantilever having about 5,00,000 lined up titanium dioxide nanotubes, this device can detect masses of trinitrotoluene (TNT) of approximately 800 ppq, i.e., 800 molecules of the explosive per 10^15 molecules of air, thus bettering the thousand fold limit achievable presently.

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Credit: © Fabien Schnell/NS3E

This novel concept may also be employed to dig up drugs, toxic agents and specks of organic pollutants. This is by far the most advanced explosive detection we've got, and scientists are already considering it for detecting other kinds of explosives too, like pentrite, that poses a grat threat in Europe.