Researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden have developed a tiny sensor for detecting pesticides on fruit in just a few minutes. The technique, described as a proof-of-concept in a paper in the journal Advanced Science, uses flame-sprayed nanoparticles made from silver to increase the signal of chemicals. While still at an early stage, the researchers hope these nano-sensors could help uncover food pesticides before consumption.
Three product entries resulting in four awards: Schreiner Group (Oberschleißheim, Germany) celebrated a big success at this year’s FINAT Awards presentation. The high-tech company was recognised particularly for innovations in the forward-thinking technologies of RFID and printed electronics: the Robust RFID-Label from Schreiner MediPharm even received the main award in the overall category of Innovation & Electronic Printing.
The DRYtraec coating process developed at the Fraunhofer Institute for Material and Beam Technology IWS (Dresden, Germany) allows the dry production of battery electrodes without toxic organic solvents or water. In particular, the space- and energy-intensive drying step of conventional wet-chemical coating processes is completely eliminated. In addition to environmental protection aspects, there is enormous potential for cost reduction in the battery cell production. The German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) is now funding a project with €3.7M that will develop the dry-coating technology into a holistic technology platform.
