Researchers have invented a nanofluid-based ultrasensitive optical sensor that changes its colour on exposure to extremely low concentrations of toxic cations. The sensor is useful in detecting minute traces of cations in industrial and environmental samples.  Existing techniques for monitoring cations levels in industrial and environmental samples are expensive, complex and time-consuming. The sensor is designed with a magnetic nanofluid that consists of nano-droplets with magnetic grains suspended in water. At a fixed magnetic field, a light source illuminates the nanofluid where the colour of the nanofluid changes depending on the cation concentration. This color change occurs within a second after exposure to cations, much faster than other existing cation sensing methods.
Such response stimulus nanofluids are also used to detect and image defects in ferromagnetic components. The photonic eye, as it has been called, is based on a magnetically polarizable nano-emulsion that changes colour when it comes into contact with a defective region in a sample. The device might be used to monitor structures such as rail tracks and pipelines.