Sensitive Gas Detectors - Isis Project No 2350 and 2401
Marketing Opportunity
The monitoring of reducible and oxidizable gases has become increasingly important as the effects of such gases upon health and the environment have been brought into the public eye. Reducible and oxidizable gases may be toxic and environmental pollutants. The gases may be formed from burning fuel in motor vehicles, electric power plants, and other industrial, commercial, and residential sources that burn fuel. They may be present in enclosed spaces such as ice rinks from ice surface renewal machines and in kitchens or apartments from using a gas stove. Exposure to some reducible and oxidizable gases may exacerbate a pre-existing pathogenic condition in people who spend a large amount of time in such places and/or cause respiratory health problems. Consequently, continuous monitoring is required.
Known methods of gas detection include, for example, chemiluminescence, fluorometric and spectrophotometric analysis. A favoured alternative uses amperometric sensors have been found to enable low cost of components, small size, and lower power consumption than other types of sensor, and are ideal for use in portable analysis systems. Electrochemical techniques for the quantification of gases have been described but sensitive systems almost invariably employ noble metals which dramatically increase costs.
The Oxford Invention
A new methodology has been developed based on low cost carbon based electrodes for the detection of trace quantities of toxic gases such as nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and chlorine (Cl2). The technology has been successfully applied to the detection of low levels of chlorine and nitrogen dioxide gas but is likely to have broader application in the detection of sulphur dioxide, hydrogen, hydrazine, arsine, nitrogen monoxide, hydrocarbons including methane, oxygen, ozone, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, hydrogen sulphide, and carbon disulphide.
Patent Status
This work is the subject of patent application, and Isis would like to talk to companies interested in developing the commercial opportunity that this represents. Expertise in manufacturing low cost electronic devices is particularly sought. Please contact the Isis Project Manager to discuss this further.
Other Sensor Projects
1529 - pH Sensor Electrodes
2208 - High Speed Rotating Disc Electrode
2618 - Real World Arsenic Detection
2698 - Cryo-Electrochemical ESR Cell
Request Further Information: Isis Project Nos. 2350 and 2401 - Sensitive Gas Detectors