Other Uses

Other Uses

For the world's most useful Useless Stuff, Silly Putty.

Which is good, because it no longer picks up newspaper ink...

Originally shared by Kam-Yung Soh

Nice. "A dash of graphene can transform the stretchy goo known as Silly Putty into a pressure sensor able to monitor a human pulse or even track the dainty steps of a small spider.

The material, dubbed G-putty, could be developed into a device that continuously monitors blood pressure, its inventors hope. It also demonstrates a form of self-repair that may herald smarter graphene composites.
[...]
The researchers mixed graphene flakes, roughly 20 atomic layers thick and up to 800 nanometers long, with homemade Silly Putty, a silicone polymer, to produce dark grey G-putty that conducted electricity. Crucially, its electrical resistance changed dramatically when the researchers applied even tiny amounts of pressure. The putty was at least ten times more sensitive than other nanocomposite sensors.

When they wired up a lump of G-putty and held it to a student’s neck, the pulse from his carotid artery was clearly visible in those resistance changes. In fact, the pulse profile was so detailed that they could convert it into an accurate blood-pressure reading. The sensor could also monitor respiration when placed on the student’s chest. And, as a slightly bizarre encore, it recorded the individual steps of a spider weighing just 20 milligrams.

“They did a really extensive demonstration of how versatile it can be,” says Vincenzo Palermo, a materials scientist at the National Research Council of Italy in Bologna. “I think it’s remarkable work, really original.” The study is published in Science."
http://www.nature.com/news/graphene-spiked-silly-putty-picks-up-human-pulse-1.21133

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