For eight years, a small Fitchburg, Wis., company has been working to create inexpensive portable sensors that detect deadly gases, pesticide exposure, even rotting fish and meat.
The challenge now is to perfect a product that companies and consumers want to buy.
The idea for the sensors grew out of a breakthrough made by University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers in 2001. Working with tiny nanoparticles, UW-Madison scientist Nicholas Abbott and others created a sensor that has an ultra-thin layer of gold film coated with receptors that make it turn lighter or darker when it comes in contact with a targeted substance.