SBIR Phase I: Screen-Printed Gas Sensor using Nanoparticulate Catalyst

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This Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) project will result in the design and manufacture of an industrial quality, electrochemical, Carbon Monoxide (CO) sensor based on screen-printed electronics technology. Printed electronics is a growing field, and some groups have applied it to create low-cost biosensors or temperature sensors. However, no one has yet applied printed electronics to making an electrochemical (EC) gas sensors. The team has extensive knowledge and experience in the design and manufacture of electrochemical sensors, and has done prior R&D with printed sensor electrodes. As such, the company has the unique opportunity and qualifications to merge these two fields and create an innovative product of significant merit: an industrial quality electrochemical sensor costing less than $0.25 to produce in high volume (as compared to industrial EC sensors that can cost well over $20 to purchase even in volume). The broader impacts of this research arise from the fact that while the sensor proposed will be ideal for detection of CO only, very few changes to the production techniques developed through this SBIR will be required to produce similar EC sensors for the detection of other toxic gases. These gases include: O2, NO, H2S, SO2, Ozone, and NO2, for which EC sensors are commonly needed and used. The design, production, and sales of electrochemical sensors, and the monitors/detectors that incorporate them, is a worldwide market valued in the hundreds of millions of dollars. These sensors and detectors are used to detect a variety of gases in fields such as environmental monitoring and control, fuel processing, medical gas, national security, home inspection, first responder, worker safety and health, scientific research, and personal and home protection.