Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1525368
52 PCB007 MAGAZINE I AUGUST 2024 imeter 3 , which can be made for less than $25 or purchased as a kit from the student consortium. Summary e sad truth is that there are very few sensors or probes designed for use in PCB fabrication. Most are designed for the chemical industry, must be explosion- proof, and work with extremely strong solvents and acid/bases. us, they are expensive. Next month, I will explain how to build your own monitor and chemical controller with examples that I built as well as some that can be purchased. PCB007 References 1. "It All Starts With Sensors," by Happy Holden, SMT007 Magazine, August 2023. 2. "Introducing spectrophotometry in the school lab employing LEGO bricks and LEDs," by Myrto-Eleni Bouza and Alexandra Nastou, Chemistry Teacher International, 2019-Vol. 20180012. 3. "Assembling the Public Lab LEGO Spec- trometer," by Warren, Ansnow, and Bronwen, December 2013. 4. "Open-source Colorimeter," by Joshua Pearce and Alexandra Grover, Sensors Journal, April 2013. Additional Reading "Simple, Cheap, and Portable Colorimeter for Introductory Analytical Chemistry Laborato- ries," by M Sorouraddin and M Saadati, Chem- istry, Vol.18, Issue 6, 2009. Happy Holden has worked in printed cir- cuit technology since 1970 with Hewlett-Pack- ard, NanYa Westwood, Merix, Foxconn, and Gentex. He is currently a contributing technical editor with I-Connect007, and the author of Automation and Advanced Procedures in PCB Fabrication, and 24 Essential Skills for Engineers. To read past columns, click here. Researchers at Linköping University have now managed to create gold nanowires and develop soft electrodes that can be connected to the nervous sys- tem. The electrodes are soft as nerves, stretchable and electrically conductive, and are projected to last for a long time in the body. Such technology could be used to alleviate condi- tions such as epilepsy, Parkinson's disease, paralysis or chronic pain. However, creating an interface where electronics can meet the brain or other parts of the nervous system poses special challenges. "The classical conductors used in electronics are metals, which are very hard and rigid. The mechani- cal properties of the nervous system are more remi- niscent of soft jelly. In order to get an accurate signal transmission, we need to get very close to the nerve fibres in question, but as the body is constantly in motion, achieving close contact between something that is hard and something that is soft and fragile becomes a problem," says Klas Tybrandt, professor of materials science at the Laboratory of Organic Elec- tronics at Linköping University, who led the research. Researchers therefore create electrodes that have good conductivity as well as mechanical properties similar to the softness of the body. (Source: Linköping University.) Soft Gold Enables Connections Between Nerves and Electronics