Researchers have developed a way to track emissions using a sensor at the nanoscale.

The researchers made the copper oxide nanowire part of an electric circuit that allows the detection of carbon monoxide indirectly. Source: OISTThe Nanoparticles by Design Unit at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST) Graduate University collaborated with the Materials Center Leoben Austria and the Austrian Centre for Electron Microscopy and Nanoanalysis, to develop this solution and detect emissions.

The team used a copper oxide nanowire coated with palladium nanoparticles to detect carbon monoxide, and then tested it in conditions similar to ambient air.

"I think nanoparticle-decorated nanowires have a huge potential for practical applications as it is possible to incorporate this type of technology into industrial devices," says Stephan Steinhauer, a Japan Society for the Promotion of Science postdoctoral research at the OIST Nanoparticles by Design Unit.

The researchers made the copper oxide nanowire part of an electric circuit that allows the detection of carbon monoxide indirectly. They did so by measuring the change in the resulting circuit’s electrical resistance in the presence of gas.

The research also found a greater increase in electrical resistance in the presence of carbon monoxide when using the copper oxide nanowires as opposed to the same type of nanowire without the nanoparticles.