The hunt for explosives

摘要

A dye-based sensor can detect tiny amounts of an explosive that has been used in several terrorist incidents. Current methods for detecting triacetone triperoxide (TATP) have several drawbacks, such as being cumbersome or expensive. Kenneth Suslick and Hengwei Lin at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have developed a way to sense TATP levels as low as 2 parts per billion. They show that, in a gas flow treated with a solid acid catalyst, TATP decomposes into products, such as hydrogen peroxide, that can be detected with a colorimetric sensor. The researchers have created a prototype hand-held detector that could be used to screen luggage. Importantly, the detector is not activated by other common compounds such as soaps, liquors or volatile organics.