US Patent 7777478 - Touch and auditory nanotube sensors

http://ip.com/patent/US7777478

Touch sensors are critical to a variety of portable electronic devices such as the iPhone and iPad. This patent from the University of Dayton teaches a way to implement such sensors using carbon nanotubes. Claim 1 reads:

1. A sensor comprising: at least one sensor probe comprising:

a pair of electrodes;

a vertically aligned nanotube disposed between the pair of electrodes, the nanotube having a first end and a second end, one of the pair of electrodes at the first end of the nanotube and the other electrode at the second end;

a piezoelectric polymer on the nanotube; and

a field source for generating a field, the field source operatively connected to the pair of electrodes;

whereby when the sensor probe is touched, a change in the field occurs or electricity is generated.