Nanotechnology: A Gentle Introduction to the Next Big Idea

Sensors

Joe Hupp teaches chemistry at Northwestern University and, in his short scientific career, has worked in many different areas of chemistry and materials. He is athletic, quiet, intense, brilliant, and youthful. One of Joe's major areas of interest has been the development of sensor materials, especially those designed at the nanoscale. Sensors are structures that will respond in a recognizable way to the presence of something we wish to detect. There are sensors for temperature, water, light, sound, electricity, particular molecules, and specific biological targets such as bacteria, toxins, explosives, or DNA.

One way in which Hupp is trying to develop sensors is by using the properties of molecular recognition. He has made some rather ...