By Peter Weiss
By spraying surfaces with a light-emitting polymer, researchers have taken a step toward making new sensors for traces of common explosives. Such detectors may even prove useful for finding bombs and mines under water.
To make the sensitive coating, a team of scientists at the University of California, San Diego modified polytetraphenyl-1,1 silole. This polymer consists of single-atom-thick silicon filaments in a jacket of organic molecules that the researchers refer to as “chicken fat.”