PFI: BIC - Microfabricated Electrochemical Sensors for Combustion Application

这个PFI:BIC项目来自奥尔巴尼大学纳米科学与工程学院，旨在开发用于燃烧应用的具有成本效益的氧气传感器。氧传感器是目前燃烧工业中应用最广泛的传感器。这些传感器用于控制汽油动力车辆的燃油喷射（传感器成本约100美元）和优化燃煤发电厂的燃烧（传感器成本约5000美元）。目前，这些传感器系统的尺寸范围从10厘米到米不等，并且需要进入环境空气，因此限制了它们在广泛工业中的使用。只有当新设计不再需要进入环境空气时，现有传感器设计的小型化才会有优势。美国阿贡国家实验室（Argonne National Laboratory）和俄亥俄州立大学（Ohio State University）最近发现了一种氧传感器，它具有无与伦比的氧传感能力，无需接触外部空气，这为进一步适应小型化设计创新化学气体传感器提供了独特的机会。该计划的智力价值在于填补了与生产毫米级氧气传感器的微制造技术的发展相关的技术空白，该技术具有广泛应用于燃烧应用所需的必要技术和成本属性。为了实现这一目标，宏观陶瓷物体的制造实践将转化为纳米长度尺度，这将增加研究团队的创新能力。这项研究的广泛影响将在微制造氧传感器的商业影响中实现。这些微型传感器的使用将提高交通运输、能源生产和制造业等行业能源系统的燃烧效率。燃烧效率每提高1%，就能节省160 TBtu的能源，减少9300万吨的二氧化碳，从长远来看，可以节省数十亿美元，并对更清洁的环境产生重大影响。对于小型企业合作伙伴Makel Engineering， Inc.（MEI）来说，这些传感器可以立即用于小批量/高成本的工业应用。从长远来看，大规模生产的传感器模具将降低生产成本，从而开辟低成本/大批量化学传感器的应用。对于小型企业合作伙伴MicroAdventure Technologies LLC （MAT）来说，MEMS氧传感器项目的成功完成将使MAT能够参与将该传感器技术推向市场所需的后续开发阶段。从长远来看，MAT打算通过向以应用为重点的公司提供定制设计和测试的模具来参与这种传感器的供应链。对于研究团队的学术成员来说，将实验室发现转化为旨在建立小型企业创新能力的研究计划，反过来将为学术研究人员和学生提供新的教育机会。这个研究项目的创业精神将为研究生和本科生的培训提供一个独特的机会，并为未来在学术和商业相关机会上的成功奠定基础。项目启动时的合作伙伴如下：1)牵头机构：奥尔巴尼-纽约州立大学纳米科学与工程学院；2)主要小企业合作伙伴：加州奇科市的MEI和纽约州皮茨福德市的MAT； 3)其他主要合作伙伴：俄亥俄州立大学化学与生物化学系

This PFI:BIC project from the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering-University at Albany seeks to develop cost-effective oxygen sensors for combustion applications. Oxygen sensors are currently the most extensively used sensor in the combustion industry. These sensors are used for controlling fuel injection in gasoline-powered vehicles (cost of sensors ~ $100) and optimizing combustion in coal-fired power plants (cost of sensor ~ $5000). Currently, the dimensions of these sensor systems range from ten centimeters to meters in size and require access to ambient air, thus limiting their use in a wide range of industries. Miniaturization of existing sensor designs only will be advantageous if new designs no longer need access to ambient air. The recent discovery of an oxygen sensor by Argonne National Laboratory and The Ohio State University with unsurpassed oxygen-sensing capabilities and no need for access to outside air, provides a unique opportunity to further adapt miniaturization for designing innovative chemical gas sensors. The intellectual merit of this program is realized in filling the technology gap related to the development of microfabrication techniques for producing millimeter- sized oxygen gas sensors with the necessary technical and cost attributes required for widespread use within combustion applications. To meet this objective, manufacturing practices for macroscopic ceramic objects will be translated to the nanometer length scale, which will increase the innovation capacity of the research team. The broader impacts of this research will be realized in the commercial impact of microfabricated oxygen sensors. Use of these miniaturized sensors will increase the combustion efficiency of energy systems in industries that include transportation, energy generation, and manufacturing. An increase of just 1% in combustion efficiency will provide energy savings of 160 TBtu with a subsequent CO2 reduction of 93 million tons, saving billions of dollars in the long run with a major impact on a cleaner environment. For the small business collaborator, Makel Engineering, Inc.( MEI), these sensors can be used immediately in low volume/high cost industrial applications. In the long term, mass-produced sensor dies will allow for a reduction in production costs that will then open up low cost/high volume chemical sensor applications. For the small business collaborator, MicroAdventure Technologies LLC (MAT), the successful completion of the MEMS oxygen sensor project will allow MAT to participate in the subsequent development phases needed to bring this sensor technology to market. Longer term, MAT intends to participate in the supply chain for this sensor by providing custom-designed and tested die to application-focused companies. For the academic members of the research team, the translation of laboratory discoveries into research initiatives aimed at building the innovation capacity of small businesses will in turn provide new educational opportunities for both the academic investigators and students. The entrepreneurial spirit of this research program will provide a unique opportunity for training of graduate and undergraduate students and the groundwork for future success in both academic and business-related opportunities.Partners at the inception of the project are as follows: 1) Lead Institution: College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering-University at Albany-SUNY, 2) Primary Small Business Partners: MEI, Chico, CA, and MAT, Pittsford, NY, and 3) Other primary partner: The Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, The Ohio State University