I-Corps: Nanoenabled Electronic Nose

I-Corps：纳米电子鼻

• 批准号: 1839213
• 负责人: Nosang Myung
• 金额: $ 5万
• 依托单位: University of California-Riverside
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2018
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2018-07-01 至 2019-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1839213&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Corps; Nanoenabled; Electronic; Nose

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is that the project's technology, based on computing, engineering and materials technologies, may provide a sense of safety and comfort to anosmics (those who suffer from a loss of a sense of smell). People with a loss of their sense of smell are typically concerned about being near potential hazards that are difficult to detect without a sense of smell, such as fires, gas leaks, food that is spoiling, and hazardous chemicals. As there are no methods or products that can closely mimic the human nose, the detection performance and user-friendliness of a substitute device will target a relatively untapped market -- approximately 5% of the general population or over 15 million people in the United States alone. It is anticipated that this project's device will be a more affordable, reliable and less invasive alternative to surgery or other treatments. Furthermore, the technology can be used in a wide range of applications, such as drug or explosives detection, food quality monitoring (such as identifying diseases and/or ripeness of fruits and other produce), air quality monitoring and control, harmful solvent detection for defense application, and smart bandage for wound monitoring.This I-Corps project involves the manufacture of a device with a high-density, high-performance gas sensor array based on nanotechnology, chemistry, computer science and engineering. The facile, fast fabrication methods of nanomaterials as sensing materials introduces the possibility of mass manufacturing. Real-time response to a range of gas analytes along with fast recovery of the sensing medium provides a solid technical foundation for this project. Currently at a pre-alpha prototyping stage, the device, with its full integration with a custom-designed circuit board and precisely fabricated sensing nanomaterials, not only eliminates the need for tedious and costly microfabrication, which is typical for gas sensors, but may also be able to imitate the detection level of a human nose, even exceeding the detection performance for some gas analytes.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

这个i-Corps项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是，该项目的技术基于计算、工程和材料技术，可能会为失嗅症患者(那些失去嗅觉的人)提供一种安全感和舒适感。嗅觉丧失的人通常担心在没有嗅觉的情况下很难检测到的潜在危险，如火灾、煤气泄漏、变质的食物和危险化学品。由于没有方法或产品可以完全模仿人类的鼻子，替代设备的检测性能和用户友好性将瞄准一个相对未开发的市场--大约占总人口的5%，仅在美国就超过1500万人。预计该项目的设备将是一种比手术或其他治疗更负担得起、更可靠、侵入性更小的选择。此外，该技术可广泛应用于药物或爆炸物检测、食品质量监测(如识别水果和其他农产品的疾病和/或成熟度)、空气质量监测和控制、用于国防应用的有害溶剂检测以及用于伤口监测的智能绷带。这个i-Corps项目涉及制造基于纳米技术、化学、计算机科学和工程的高密度、高性能气体传感器阵列的设备。作为敏感材料的纳米材料的简便、快速的制造方法为大规模制造带来了可能性。对一系列气体分析的实时响应以及传感介质的快速回收为该项目提供了坚实的技术基础。目前处于Pre-Alpha原型阶段，该设备与定制设计的电路板和精确制造的传感纳米材料完全集成，不仅消除了气体传感器典型的繁琐和昂贵的微制造需求，而且还能够模拟人类鼻子的检测水平，甚至超过某些气体分析的检测性能。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。