While multiple studies in the past have explored systems equipped with one of the aforementioned modules, their functional integration has not yet been attempted, limiting progress. Against this backdrop, in a recent study published in Nature Communications, Prof. Kawano and his colleagues from Tokyo Tech, Japan, developed a robot-assisted, broadband (using a wide range of frequencies) photo-monitoring platform equipped with a light source and imager that can operate in a location-independent manner and switch between reflective and transmissive sensing.

In their proposed module, the scientists made use of physically and chemically enriched carbon nanotube (CNT) thin films to act as uncooled imager sheets that employed "photothermoelectric effect" to convert light into electric signal via thermoelectric conversion...

Read the full article at Sci Tech Daily.