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SALT LAKE CITY — New technology developed at the University of Utah could soon help emergency response teams detect dangerous gases and explosives using a small, handheld device.
The sensor, which uses a carbon nanotube material created by U. professor Ling Zang, would be much smaller and more cost-effective than current detection systems, according to researchers. Local start-up Vaporsens, a spin-off company from the U., licensed the patent for the technology and is working to have a commercial product ready for testing in 2015.
Currently, the most common detection systems in the security market, like the ones found in airports, are large and require swabs from people’s hands or other items to be inserted into the device for analysis. The new carbon nanotube technology can provide detection without contact, according to Vaporsens CEO Ben Rollins.
“The (nanofibers) essentially make up this nano-scale spiderweb, or this nano scale supernet, that can capture chemical vapors from the air,” he said. “When they capture that chemical, say it’s vapor from explosives, a toxic chemical or a drug — because all of those chemicals sweat, if you will — we can actually sense that and detect that.”
Even though the product is still in the early stages of development, Rollins said there has been a lot of interest in it. The team is receiving funding from the Department of Defense and National Science Foundation.
Having a more portable detection system would be useful in a variety of situations, according to researchers.
“You can’t really imagine someone out in the field with the military carrying one of those big systems around,” Rollins said. “Our device could be something that is small enough and lightweight enough to go in their pack, where they could take it around with them.”
He also provided examples of how a police officer could use it to test a stray backpack at a big event, or a first responder could use it on the scene of an accident to determine whether the air is safe to breathe. Other applications Vaporsens is looking into include food quality testing.
A study about the carbon nanotube technology, written by Zang’s team, was published Nov. 4 in the journal Advanced Materials.
