UC researcher helps develop device to detect explosives
Researchers from the University of California-Riverside and the University of Connecticut develop hand-held electronic device that can detect the presence of explosives in high-risk areas where bomb-sniffing dogs are now the best tools for detection
A University of California-Riverside professor is one of several researchers working to develop a hand-held electronic device that can detect the presence of explosives in high-risk areas where bomb-sniffing dogs are now the best tools for detection. Yushan Yan, a UCR professor of chemical and environmental engineering, is collaborating with a multi-disciplinary team of researchers led by University of Connecticut engineering professor Yu Lei to create an “electronic nose” — a sensor that identifies low concentrations of explosive vapors in open spaces such as airports. UCR spokeswoman Kim Lane said Yan’s contribution to the National Science Foundation-funded project will be developing a molecular-sieving membrane that has pores a fraction of a nanometer in size that are able to trap larger molecules given off by vapors associated with explosives, like TNT. “The membrane must be immune to moisture in the air because that moisture can clog the pores,” Yan said in a statement. “It is crucial that air flows quickly through the membrane (because) this will make possible… real-time detection of explosives.”
The hand-held sensor would have the same sensitivity to air particles that a bomb-sniffing dog’s olfactory system is famous for, according to Lane.
Lei and his team at UConn are working on the sensor’s overall design, Lane said. The NSF provided a $792,404 grant to fund the three-year project
