SBIR Phase I: Low-cost ethylene CS-FET gas sensors for applications in the cold-chain logistics industry

SBIR第一阶段：应用于冷链物流行业的低成本乙烯CS-FET气体传感器

• 批准号: 1844045
• 负责人: HOSSAIN FAHAD
• 金额: $ 22.5万
• 依托单位: Serinus Labs, Inc.
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2019
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2019-02-01 至 2020-01-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1844045&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: SBIR; Phase; Low; cost; ethylene

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) project is in contributing towards the global effort in minimizing food spoilage and combating world hunger. The worldwide cold-chain freight and logistics industry deals with the storage and transportation of more than 100 million metric tons of fresh produce annually. In this industry, there is currently an urgent need to continuously monitor the air quality in shipping containers where large volumes of perishable food items (fresh fruits and vegetables) are stored. Poor environmental conditions in these containers such as unregulated or high temperatures and low humidity can trigger early ripening of fruits and vegetables, leading to the efflux of specific volatile organic compounds; predominantly ethylene. Due to large volume of produce stored in these containers, if gone unchecked, the environment inside can quickly accumulate high levels of ethylene leading to accelerated ageing and subsequently spoilage. As one can imagine, an appropriate gas sensing technology to continuously monitor ethylene levels would allow adaptive climate control inside the containers, thereby ensuring produce freshness on arrival and preventing billions of dollars in loss and reducing food waste.This SBIR phase I project proposes to develop a low-cost ethylene sensing technology using bulk silicon transistor technology (also called CS-FET or chemical sensitive field effect transistor), for mass-deployment in refrigerated containers transporting fresh produce to different parts of the world. This innovation will address an unmet need in the cold-chain logistics industry where continuous monitoring of fruits and vegetables is required to ensure quality and freshness on-arrival. Existing technologies are either too expensive or have poor sensitivity for deployment in large-scale sensing operations. Specifically, Phase I seeks to identify and engineer a sensitive nanoscale catalyst/sensing-layer that will respond to ethylene. To develop the ethylene sensing layers, this effort will pursue the screening of various nanomaterial systems such as ultra-thin layers of noble and transition metals, their composites, sub-oxides, as well as polymeric films using the silicon CS-FET as the backbone technology platform. Additionally, the proposal will also seek to develop a scientific understanding of the interaction mechanism between ethylene and the target sensing layer at both standard ambient conditions as well as conditions prevalent in reefer containers, i.e. low temperature and high humidity.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.

这个小企业创新研究（SBIR）项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是促进全球努力，最大限度地减少食品腐败和消除世界饥饿。全球冷链货运和物流行业每年处理超过1亿公吨新鲜农产品的储存和运输。在这个行业中，目前迫切需要持续监测储存大量易腐食品（新鲜水果和蔬菜）的集装箱中的空气质量。这些容器中的恶劣环境条件，如不受管制或高温和低湿度，可引发水果和蔬菜的早熟，导致特定挥发性有机化合物的流出;主要是乙烯。由于这些容器中储存了大量农产品，如果不加控制，内部环境可能会迅速积累大量乙烯，导致加速老化并随后腐败。可以想象，采用适当的气体传感技术来持续监测乙烯水平，可以对集装箱内的气候进行自适应控制，从而确保农产品在抵达时的新鲜度，防止数十亿美元的损失，并减少食物浪费。（也称为CS-FET或化学敏感场效应晶体管），用于大规模部署在冷藏集装箱运输新鲜农产品到世界各地。这一创新将解决冷链物流行业未满足的需求，该行业需要对水果和蔬菜进行持续监测，以确保抵达时的质量和新鲜度。现有技术要么太昂贵，要么在大规模传感操作中部署的灵敏度很差。具体来说，第一阶段旨在确定和设计一种敏感的纳米级催化剂/传感层，它将对乙烯做出反应。为了开发乙烯传感层，这项工作将追求各种纳米材料系统的筛选，如超薄层的贵金属和过渡金属，其复合材料，低氧化物，以及使用硅CS-FET作为骨干技术平台的聚合物薄膜。此外，该提案还将寻求在标准环境条件以及冷藏集装箱中普遍存在的条件（即低温和高湿度）下，对乙烯和目标敏感层之间的相互作用机制进行科学理解。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。