SBIR Phase II: Laser-based in-exhaust NOx sensor for automotive applications

这个小企业创新研究（SBIR）二期项目将通过更清洁的柴油发动机尾气来改善环境。由于缺乏广泛部署的传感器来区分废气流中的氮氧化物（NOx）和其他物质，柴油发动机制造商目前无法精确控制其尾气后处理系统。该项目提出了一种新型车载传感器，用于检测柴油尾气流中的氮氧化物，其灵敏度和分子特异性是现有技术无法比拟的。它可以使燃油效率提高10%，同时符合新的严格的氮氧化物排放标准。该技术将提高整个车队的燃油经济性，减少氮氧化物排放，从而减少碳排放，改善空气质量，减少氮氧化物引起的烟雾、地面臭氧和酸雨。本课题的智力优势是提出了一种新的激光吸收光谱应用，通过探测NOx物种的独特光谱吸收指纹来避免跨物种干扰。与目前广泛使用的电化学传感器相比，该传感器的检测阈值将降低10倍，可用于恶劣的高温微粒排放环境，同时保持与现有柴油后处理系统相似的外形因素。第一阶段的研究将利用新的制造技术来制造和展示高灵敏度激光NO传感器的性能，该传感器能够承受高温、氧化、强烈振动和汽车尾气中含有颗粒的流动特征。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，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。

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will improve the environment with cleaner diesel engine exhaust. Diesel engine manufacturers currently cannot precisely control their exhaust after-treatment systems due to the lack of widely deployable sensors that can differentiate between oxides of nitrogen (NOx) and other species in the exhaust stream. This project advances a novel on-board sensor for detecting NOx in diesel exhaust streams with sensitivities and molecular specificity unmatched by existing technologies. It can result in 10% greater fuel efficiency while matching new stringent NOx emissions standards. Fleet-wide fuel economy improvements and NOx emissions reductions enabled by this technology will lead to reduced carbon emissions and healthier air with lower amounts of NOx-induced smog, ground-level ozone, and acid rain.The intellectual merit of this project advances a novel application of laser-absorption spectroscopy, which probes the unique spectral absorption fingerprint of NOx species to avoid cross-species interference. This sensor is projected to achieve tenfold lower detection thresholds than current widely deployed electrochemical sensors in the harsh high-temperature particulate-laden diesel exhaust environments, all while maintaining a form factor similar to those used in existing diesel aftertreatment systems. This Phase I research will leverage novel manufacturing techniques to fabricate and demonstrate the performance of a high-sensitivity laser-based NO sensor capable of surviving high-temperature, oxidizing, intensely vibrating, and particulate-laden flows characteristic of vehicle exhaust gases.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.