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

这一小型企业创新研究(SBIR)项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力在于促进全球努力，最大限度地减少粮食腐败和战胜世界饥饿。全球冷链货运和物流业每年处理超过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集装箱内的空气质量，这些集装箱储存着大量易腐烂的食品(新鲜水果和蔬菜)。这些容器中恶劣的环境条件，如不受管制的或高温和低湿度，可能会引发水果和蔬菜的早熟，导致特定的挥发性有机化合物外流；主要是乙烯。由于储存在这些容器中的产品数量很大，如果不加以控制，里面的环境可能会迅速积累大量乙烯，导致加速老化和随后的变质。正如人们可以想象的那样，适当的气体传感技术来持续监测乙烯水平，将允许自适应地控制集装箱内的气候，从而确保农产品到达时的新鲜度，从而防止数十亿美元的损失和减少食品浪费。这项SBIR第一阶段项目建议开发一种使用体硅晶体管技术(也称为CS-FET或化学敏感场效应晶体管)的低成本乙烯传感技术，用于大规模部署在将新鲜农产品运输到世界不同地区的冷藏集装箱中。这项创新将解决冷链物流行业中未得到满足的需求，该行业需要对水果和蔬菜进行持续监测，以确保到达时的质量和新鲜度。现有的技术要么过于昂贵，要么灵敏度较差，不适合在大规模传感操作中部署。具体地说，第一阶段寻求识别和设计一种敏感的纳米级催化剂/感应层，它将对乙烯做出反应。为了开发乙烯传感层，这项工作将进行各种纳米材料系统的筛选，例如贵金属和过渡金属的超薄层、它们的复合材料、次氧化物，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)下发展对乙烯和目标感应层之间相互作用机制的科学理解。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。

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.