SBIR Phase I: Ultrasensitive Elemental Mercury Pollution Monitor

SBIR 第一阶段：超灵敏元素汞污染监测仪

• 批准号: 9560424
• 负责人: Scott Hunter
• 金额: $ 7.5万
• 依托单位: Consultec Scientific, Inc
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 1996
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 1996-03-01 至 1996-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=9560424&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: SBIR; Phase; Ultrasensitive; Elemental; Mercury

This Small Business Innovative Research Phase I project will develop a novel type of miniature mercury sensor utilizing very recent developments in microcantilevers. Sensors based on this technology will be up to 103 times smaller, considerably more sensitive, and less expensive than currently available mercury sensors. Microcantilevers that are 50-200 (m long, 10-40 (m wide, and 0.3-3 (m thick and possessing resonance frequencies in the range 10-300 kHz, have recently been used in scanning force microscopy to detect extremely small changes in force in the range of 10-12-10-9 N. The resonance frequency (and bending) of the microcantilever varies reproducibly and sensitively due to adsorption of molecules on the cantilever surfaces making it an ideal chemical sensor with picogram sensitivity and parts per billion detection. Preliminary mercury detection studies, have demonstrated detection of ppb of Hg, and have shown that selective adsorption of mercury on gold coated cantilevers (end loading) produces a linear variation in resonance frequency with a sensitivity of 0.8 pg/Hz. Simultaneous bending measurements resulted in a sensitivity of 0.6 pg/mV. The recyclability of the mercury sensor will be demonstrated by removing the adsorbed mercury by heating the sensor. Exploiting the microcantilever response, combined with selective removal of interfering molecules (such as H2S) using filters, microcantilevers will be shown to be extremely versatile and novel mercury pollution sensors. We plan to demonstrate that the sensor can be vibrated in liquid environments with a reasonable Q, allowing it to be used to detect the presence of mercury in these environments. Additionally, due to the extremely small size of the sensor, the development of a personal monitor that is highly sensitive may be possible. The proposed work will provide a highly significant advance in microcantilever sensor technology with possibilities of developing new sensors for other chemicals. Commercial applications of mercury sensors include industrial hygiene, air and water pollution control, mining industry, submarines, air quality monitoring, etc.

这个小型企业创新研究第一阶段项目将利用微悬臂梁的最新发展开发一种新型微型汞传感器。基于该技术的传感器将比现有的汞传感器小 103 倍，灵敏度更高，而且成本更低。 微悬臂梁长 50-200 (m)、宽 10-40 (m)、厚 0.3-3 (m)，具有 10-300 kHz 范围内的共振频率，最近已用于扫描力显微镜，以检测 10-12-10-9 N 范围内极小的力变化。由于吸附了 悬臂表面上的分子使其成为理想的化学传感器，具有皮克级灵敏度和十亿分之一的检测能力。初步汞检测研究已证明可检测 ppb 级汞，并表明镀金悬臂（末端负载）上汞的选择性吸附会产生共振频率的线性变化，灵敏度为 0.8 pg/Hz。同时进行弯曲测量 灵敏度为 0.6 pg/mV。通过加热传感器去除吸附的汞，将证明汞传感器的可回收性。利用微悬臂梁响应，结合使用过滤器选择性去除干扰分子（例如 H2S），微悬臂梁将被证明是一种用途极其广泛的新型汞污染传感器。我们计划证明该传感器可以 在液体环境中以合理的 Q 值振动，使其可用于检测这些环境中汞的存在。此外，由于传感器的尺寸极小，因此开发高灵敏度的个人监视器是可能的。拟议的工作将为微悬臂梁传感器技术带来非常重大的进步，并有可能为其他化学品开发新的传感器。 汞传感器的商业应用包括工业卫生、空气和水污染控制、 采矿业、潜艇、空气质量监测等