Polymer–Carbon Black Composite Sensors in an Electronic Nose for Air-Quality Monitoring

Abstract

An electronic nose that uses an array of 32 polymer-carbon black composite sensors has been developed, trained, and tested. By selecting a variety of chemical functionalities in the polymers used to make sensors, it is possible to construct an array capable of identifying and quantifying a broad range of target compounds, such as alcohols and aromatics, and distinguishing isomers and enantiomers (mirror-image isomers). A model of the interaction between target molecules and the polymer-carbon black composite sensors is under development to aid in selecting the array members and to enable identification of compounds with responses not stored in the analysis library.

Electronic Nose: Current Status and Future Trends

“…111,112 Very practical examples are the detection of smoke compounds, 113 the control of automotive ventilation, 114,115 and the determination of indoor air quality. [116][117][118][119] For headspace measurement of water samples, both very specific and more general cases were considered. Examples of the former are the determination of residues of insecticides 120 and the amount of cyanobacteria 121 in drinkable water.…”

Development of the Third Generation JPL Electronic Nose for International Space Station Technology Demonstration

“…The ENose Sensor Unit also contains the electronics to route power, relay data and commands between the sensor array and the ENose Interface Unit. The Sensor Unit for the Third Generation ENose is designed and built by JPL; it is based on the platform developed as the Second Generation JPL ENose, which has previously been discussed in detail [1,7].…”

“…In previous versions of the JPL ENose, sensors in the 32 element sensing array were made from polymer-carbon composite sensing films [1][2][3][4][5][6][7] and deposited 2 mm x 1 mm Pd-Au electrode sets, where electrode spacing is approximately 250 μm. Polymer deposition and the electrode sets have previously been discussed in detail [6,7,9].…”

“…The JPL Electronic Nose [3][4][5][6][7] is an event monitor designed and built for near real time air quality monitoring in crew habitat aboard the space shuttle/space station. This is an array-based sensing system which is designed to run continuously and to monitor for the presence of selected chemical species in the air at parts-per-million (ppm) to parts-per-billion (ppb) concentration ranges.…”

Ground Validation of the Third Generation JPL Electronic Nose

“…The JPL Electronic Nose [1][2][3][4][5] is an event monitor designed and built for near real time air quality monitoring in crew habitat aboard the space shuttle/space station. This is an array-based sensing system which is designed to run continuously and to monitor for the presence of selected chemical species in the air at parts-per-million (ppm) to parts-per-billion (ppb) concentrations.…”