Lurking in our water, blood, and environment, these notorious "forever chemicals" are notoriously difficult to detect, with some being toxic to humans. Researchers from the Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering at the University of Chicago (UChicago PME) and Argonne National Laboratory in the United States collaborated to develop a novel method for detecting trace amounts of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in water. They plan to share this approach through a portable handheld device, which employs unique probes to quantify the levels of PFAS, known as "forever chemicals.". Junhong Chen, a Crown Family Professor at the University of Chicago PME and the Chief Water Strategist at Argonne National Laboratory, stated, "Existing methods for measuring these pollutant levels may take weeks, requiring state-of-the-art equipment and specialized expertise." "Our new sensor device can measure these pollutants in just minutes." This technology, published in the journal *Nature Water*, can detect PFAS at concentrations as low as 250 parts per quadrillion (ppq), akin to finding a single grain of sand in an Olympic-standard swimming pool. This capability makes the test practical for monitoring two of the most toxic perfluorinated chemicals—perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS)—in drinking water. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently proposed limiting their concentrations to 4 parts per trillion. Andrew Ferguson, a professor of PME (Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering) at the University of Chicago, said, "Detecting and eliminating PFAS is an urgent environmental and public health challenge." "Computer simulations and machine learning have proven to be highly powerful tools for understanding how these molecules bind to molecular sensors and can guide experimental work to design more sensitive and selective molecular probes." Seth Darling, a senior scientist at Argonne National Laboratory and the University of Chicago, said, "Although PFAS typically exist at extremely low concentrations, they possess certain molecular characteristics that distinguish them from other substances dissolved in water. Our detector is designed to identify these features." Detection Challenge PFAS is a type of oil-resistant and waterproof chemical used in various consumer goods and industrial products, including non-stick cookware, fast food packaging, firefighting foam, raincoats, and stain-resistant carpets. These chemicals are often referred to as "forever chemicals" due to their incredible persistence, which prevents natural degradation and leads to their accumulation in the environment and the human body over time. In recent years, studies have linked PFAS to health issues, including cancer, thyroid problems, and weakened immune systems. In light of these findings, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has proposed new limits for perfluorooctane sulfonate and perfluorooctanoic acid. "The issue with implementing these restrictions is that detecting PFAS is highly challenging and time-consuming," Chen said. "Currently, you cannot simply collect water samples and test them at home." The gold standard for measuring PFAS levels is a costly laboratory test known as liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry, which can separate compounds and provide information on each one. Researchers attempting to develop faster and cheaper PFAS testing methods face several challenges: first, the concentration of PFAS chemicals in water is typically much lower than that of dozens of other more common contaminants. Additionally, there are thousands of different PFAS chemicals, with only minor variations in their chemical structures, but significant differences in their health effects and regulatory limitations. Over the past fifteen years, Chen's team has been developing highly sensitive portable sensors on computer chips. This technology has already been utilized in lead sensors for tap water, and the research group suspects the same method could be applied to PFAS sensing. Their proposal to adapt the technology for PFAS detection became part of the Great Lakes Water Innovation Engine initiative by the National Science Foundation. Designed by AI The key point of the sensor is that if PFAS molecules adhere to the device, it will change the conductivity flowing through the surface of the silicon chip. But he and his colleagues must figure out how to make each sensor highly specific to a PFAS chemical substance, such as PFOS. To this end, Chen, Ferguson, Darling, and their team turned to machine learning to help select unique probes that could be placed on sensing devices and ideally only bind to the PFAS of interest. In 2021, they received the Discovery Challenge Award from the University of Chicago Data and Computing Center (CDAC) to support their use of artificial intelligence in designing PFAS detectors. In this case, machine learning is a tool that can quickly screen countless chemical probes and predict which probes are the best candidates to bind to each PFAS, "Chen said. In this new paper, the research team demonstrates that one of the predicted probes does selectively bind to perfluorooctane sulfonate, even though the levels of other common chemicals in tap water are much higher. When water containing perfluorooctane sulfonate flows through their equipment, this chemical substance will bind with new probes, thereby changing the conductivity of the chip. The degree of change in conductivity depends on the content of perfluorooctane sulfonate. In order to ensure the correct readings of the new device, the team collaborated with the US Environmental Protection Agency to confirm the concentration using approved liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry and verify that its level is consistent with the level detected by the new device. The team further demonstrated that the sensor can maintain its accuracy even after multiple detections and washings, demonstrating the potential of real-time monitoring. Chen said, 'Our next step is to predict and synthesize new probes for other different PFAS chemicals, and demonstrate how to scale them up.'. ”From there, we can perceive many other possibilities in the same way - from chemicals in drinking water to antibiotics and viruses in wastewater The ultimate result may be that consumers can test their own water and make better choices about their environment and consumption. Collaborate with the forefront of AI era and open the door to more ordinary users! Whether you are a curious enthusiast of new technologies or a professional looking to improve your skills, there are courses and resources here that are suitable for you. Source: Sensor Expert Network

The team led by Suraj Shinde at Jeonbuk National University systematically reviewed the latest advancements in wearable sweat-sensing patches (WSPs) for personalized healthcare monitoring, offering a pathway to integrate WSPs into flexible human-machine interfaces, personalized healthcare solutions, and closed-loop systems.

In the field of industrial measurement, "compactness" and "precision" were once mutually exclusive, but the emergence of Senther Technology's 1001 series LVDT displacement sensors has broken this deadlock. This product series redefines installation possibilities with an astonishingly compact design—boasting an outer diameter of just 5.8mm and an inner diameter of 3.2mm, allowing it to be effortlessly embedded in tight spaces such as solenoid valve cores and robot joints, effectively addressing the industrial pain point of traditional sensors being "nowhere to be placed.".

The prototype of the "Quantum Gas Analyzer Based on Optical Quantum Frequency Comb and Quantum Coherent Detection for SF6 Decomposition Products in Power Equipment," developed by the Production Command Center of Foshan Power Supply Bureau under Guangdong Power Grid Corporation (the first of its kind in China), has been officially deployed for practical use after trial operation testing. This prototype is equipped with the nation's first quantum sensor for detecting SF6 decomposition products in power equipment. It overcomes two major industry challenges—"synchronous and efficient detection of mixed gases" and "classical precision limits"—achieving sub-second detection speeds and a quantum precision limit of 0.09ppm. This breakthrough enables trace monitoring of characteristic gases in power equipment failures, providing revolutionary technical support for early diagnosis of latent faults in power equipment.

As a leading sensor technology enterprise in China, SentherTime has always taken it as its responsibility to overcome industry technology pain points. Recently, the company officially released its newly developed 310AH high-temperature IEPE vibration sensor to the public. This product, which embodies two years of hard work from the Sentherr R&D team, has successfully broken the technical bottleneck of vibration monitoring in extreme high temperature environments with its excellent high-temperature resistance, precise vibration monitoring capability, and stable industrial performance. It provides a new solution for equipment health management in energy, aerospace, high-end manufacturing and other fields, demonstrating Senther Technology's technological strength in the sensor field. For a long time, equipment vibration monitoring in high-temperature environments has been a key pain point that restricts industrial production and the safe operation of major equipment. Traditional IEPE vibration sensors generally suffer from insufficient high temperature resistance. When the ambient temperature exceeds 150 ℃, sensitivity and stability will significantly decrease, and even malfunction, which cannot meet the monitoring needs of high temperature conditions above 200 ℃ in scenarios such as thermal power, nuclear power, and aviation engine testing. More noteworthy is that the domestic high-end high-temperature vibration sensor market has long been monopolized by imported products, resulting in high procurement costs and difficulty in matching after-sales service response with the actual needs of domestic enterprises, seriously restricting the safe operation and intelligent upgrading process of related industries' equipment. After identifying the pain points in the market, Senther Time quickly formed a specialized R&D team and invested a large amount of resources in technical research and development. After two years of repeated experimentation and optimization, the 310AH high-temperature IEPE vibration sensor has finally been successfully implemented and achieved multiple breakthroughs in core technology. At the material and process level, the company uses special high-temperature resistant materials combined with independently developed precision packaging technology to increase the product's working temperature range to -55 ℃~300 ℃, ensuring its long-term stable operation in extreme high temperature environments; On the core components, high sensitivity piezoelectric ceramic components independently developed by Senther are installed, covering a vibration measurement range of 0.1Hz~10kHz, with measurement accuracy error strictly controlled within ± 2%, which can accurately capture small vibration signals of the equipment and provide reliable data support for equipment fault warning; At the same time, the product fully considers the actual application needs of users, is compatible with industrial standard IEPE interfaces, and can directly interface with mainstream data collection devices without additional adaptation, greatly reducing user usage costs and deployment difficulties. The successful development of the 310AH high-temperature IEPE vibration sensor not only fills the technological gap in the field of high-temperature vibration monitoring in China, but also breaks the monopoly pattern of imported products. This is an important achievement of Senser Technology's mission of 'technology localization'. ”The R&D Director of Senser Technology emphasized at the product launch event. At present, the product has successfully passed the strict testing of the national metrology certification agency and completed pilot application in the turbine monitoring project of a large thermal power plant in China. From the pilot data, it can be seen that the 310AH sensor has been running continuously and stably for more than 3000 hours under high temperature conditions of 280 ℃. The accuracy of vibration data acquisition is over 99.5%, and its performance is completely comparable to similar imported products. The procurement cost is reduced by nearly 40% compared to imported products, effectively reducing equipment monitoring costs for domestic enterprises. Currently, SenseTime Technology has officially launched mass production of 310AH high-temperature IEPE vibration sensors to quickly respond to market demand. At the same time, in response to the special monitoring needs in fields such as aerospace and new energy vehicles, the company has also carried out customized technology research and development to continuously expand the application boundaries of its products. In the future, Senser Technology will continue to deeply cultivate the field of sensor technology, promote the intelligent and domestic development of high-end equipment manufacturing industry in China with more technological innovation achievements, and actively expand the international market, allowing "Made in China" sensor products to occupy a place on the global stage. With the acceleration of industrial Internet and intelligent manufacturing, the market demand for high-temperature vibration monitoring will continue to grow. With its technical advantages and product strength, Senser Technology will continue to expand its market share in this segment and contribute more to the development of the industry.

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) affects millions of people worldwide, causing severe symptoms that are difficult to diagnose and monitor (often requiring invasive and expensive methods such as colonoscopy or endoscopy).