A breakthrough patent awarded to a New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) researcher will enable manufacturers to create a device to uncover miniscule amounts of airborne pollutants. Using computer chip technology, Somenath Mitra, PhD, professor and chair of NJIT's Department of Chemistry and Environmental Sciences, has developed and patented what could eventually become a simple keychain device to detect tiny, though potentially lethal, amounts of airborne carcinogens.
Calling the invention a microconcentrator, Mitra said his NJIT research team has created a novel, cost-effective and efficient method to concentrate pollutants. By doing so, pollutants can then be introduced onto a sensor to identify trace pollutants.
"Our chip has a polymer enabling it to concentrate the pollutants and a tiny built-in heater that drives them onto the sensor," Mitra said. "It works like a bicycle pump. First our chip accumulates the pollutants as a pump fills with air. Then, the chip directs the tiny heater to send a large enough sampling of pollutantsif they exist-- to the sensor's head. With a large sample, the sensor can recognize that pollutants exist."
"A Microfabricated Microconcentrator For Sensors and Gas Chromatography," US Patent 7147695B2, was awarded to Mitra in December of 2006. Research about the invention was previously published in Sensors and Materials ("Design and Fabrication of Microheaters for Microfluidic Channels") in 2006 and The Journal of Chromatography A ("A Microfabricated Microconcentrator for Sensors and Gas Chromatography") in 2003.
"The value of our sensing system is that it can see pollutants even when they are present at very low concentrations," said Mitra. "Down the road, we hope to see this technology pave the way for developing a small, inexpensive device to fit on a key chain. These devices would do the same job as larger instruments used in chemical laboratories for monitoring organi
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Contact: Sheryl Weinstein
sheryl.m.weinstein@njit.edu
973-596-3436
New Jersey Institute of Technology
20-Mar-2007