SBIR Phase I: Mobile Environmental Exposure Personal Sensors (MEEPS)

SBIR 第一阶段：移动环境暴露个人传感器 (MEEPS)

• 批准号: 1913409
• 负责人: Krishna Naishadham
• 金额: $ 22.5万
• 依托单位: Wi-Sense LLC
• 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: 2019-07-01 至 2020-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1913409&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: SBIR; Phase; Mobile; Environmental; Exposure

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) project is to develop wearable sensors for monitoring environmental pollution triggers of a chronic respiratory disease, asthma, and empower patients to mitigate exacerbations. The initial target for commercialization is a wearable sensor array, integrated with a smart phone, to detect ozone and nitrogen dioxide, known to cause increased morbidity and mortality in asthma patients. The anticipated product, functionally referred to as Mobile Environmental Exposure Personal Sensor (MEEPS), will use disruptive nanotechnology and signal capture methods to provide superior performance at a lower cost, size, weight and power than competing technologies, such as optical, UV photometry, heated metal oxide semi-conductor (HMOS) and electro-chemical methods. MEEPS will influence proactive healthcare by implementing personalized mitigation approaches tailored to individual symptoms triggered by local exposure, and alerting the caregiver or the physician via mobile phone, as necessary. MEEPS can potentially decrease healthcare costs and financial losses, improve productivity and overall quality of life of asthma patients worldwide. Furthermore, MEEPS enables uploading continuous airborne pollutant exposure data from several users to the cloud for off-line analysis to produce pollution maps, participatory sensing, epidemiological studies, asthma community activism, and increased environmental awareness in STEM disciplines. This SBIR Phase I project proposes to develop low-cost mobile sensor arrays for simultaneous exposure measurements of multiple chemicals in the ambient personal microenvironment. No such device exists in the market today. MEEPS utilizes functionalized carbon nanotubes (CNTs), deposited as thin-films on small flexible electrodes, for the gas-sensitive element. The innovation lies in improving the sensitivity to the target gas while simultaneously reducing the interaction with other oxidizing chemicals present in the environment. This is achieved by controlling the concentration of functional groups covalently attached to the CNTs at the sensor surface. The baseline drift is corrected by differential comparison with the reference signal, periodically monitored prior to gas exposure. MEEPS will integrate CNT detector films with a commercial on-chip low-power impedance measurement circuit, which tracks changes in complex impedance caused by molecular level chemical adsorption of gases on the film surface. In contrast to the well-known chemiresistor, which measures only the change in resistance, MEEPS uses both amplitude and phase to reduce cross-sensitivity to interfering chemicals. The goal of the Phase 1 effort is to mitigate the technical risks of selectivity and sensor drift in ambient microenvironment by utilizing transformational nanotechnology integrated with patent-pending on-board electronics for impedance measurement.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.

这个小型企业创新研究（SBIR）项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是开发可穿戴传感器，用于监测慢性呼吸道疾病，哮喘的环境污染触发因素，并使患者能够减轻病情加重。 商业化的最初目标是一个可穿戴传感器阵列，与智能手机集成，以检测臭氧和二氧化氮，已知导致哮喘患者发病率和死亡率增加。 预期的产品，功能上称为移动的环境暴露个人传感器（MEEPS），将使用颠覆性的纳米技术和信号捕获方法，以较低的成本，尺寸，重量和功率提供上级性能比竞争技术，如光学，紫外线光度法，加热金属氧化物半导体（HMOS）和电化学方法。 MEEPS将通过实施针对局部暴露触发的个体症状定制的个性化缓解方法，并在必要时通过移动的电话提醒护理人员或医生，来影响主动医疗保健。 MEEPS可以潜在地降低医疗成本和经济损失，提高全球哮喘患者的生产力和整体生活质量。 此外，MEEPS能够将来自多个用户的连续空气污染物暴露数据上传到云端进行离线分析，以生成污染地图，参与式传感，流行病学研究，哮喘社区活动，并提高STEM学科的环境意识。 该SBIR第一阶段项目建议开发低成本的移动的传感器阵列，用于同时测量周围个人微环境中多种化学物质的暴露。 目前市场上还没有这样的设备。 MEEPS利用功能化的碳纳米管（CNT），作为薄膜沉积在小的柔性电极上，作为气敏元件。 创新在于提高对目标气体的灵敏度，同时减少与环境中存在的其他氧化化学品的相互作用。 这是通过控制在传感器表面共价连接到CNT的官能团的浓度来实现的。 基线漂移通过与参考信号进行差分比较来校正，在气体暴露之前定期监测。 MEEPS将CNT探测器薄膜与商用片上低功耗阻抗测量电路集成在一起，该电路可跟踪薄膜表面气体分子水平化学吸附引起的复阻抗变化。 与仅测量电阻变化的著名化学电阻器相比，MEEPS使用幅度和相位来降低对干扰化学品的交叉敏感性。 第一阶段工作的目标是通过利用转型纳米技术与正在申请专利的机载电子设备集成进行阻抗测量，减轻周围微环境中选择性和传感器漂移的技术风险。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。