Literally every day research in nanotechnology and nanomaterials brings us something new and interesting. A striking example of this is the new tiny accelerometer sensor made from graphene by an international team of researchers from institutes and universities, including KTH Royal Institute of Technology, RWTH Aachen University, and Research Institute AMO GmbH. This sensor, which can be freely called the world’s smallest accelerometer, can provide a breakthrough in the field of navigation technology, motion capture technology, medical monitoring technology, etc.
It should be noted that for several decades, so-called microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) have been used in such sensors. Now, the general movement towards miniaturization provided the transition of these systems to an even smaller level, now they should be called nanoelectromechanical systems (nano-electromechanical systems, NEMS).
The tiny accelerometer owes its emergence to a number of unique properties of graphene, which is a form of carbon whose crystal lattice has a single-atom thickness. The main property of graphene used in this sensor is the highest electron velocity in the material.
“By using one-atom-thick materials with high electrical and physical performance, we are able to significantly reduce the size of components in microelectromechanical systems,” the researchers write, “With graphene, we have created a piezoresistive NEMS accelerometer that is smaller than all other accelerometers available today. At the same time, our accelerometer retains the high sensitivity that modern navigation systems need.”
“Further development of such technologies could provide new navigation and orientation systems for cell phones and game consoles. In addition, such sensors can be used to create motion-capture systems that can monitor even the smallest movements of the human body, such as the heartbeat.
