Development of a Hybrid Sensor Suite for Chemical and Biological Point Detection

摘要

During the terms of this grant, the Environmental Sensor Research Group (ESRG) which involves researchers from the University of Maine and two industrial partners, Sensor Research and Development (SRD) Corp. and BIODE Inc., carried out research and development of sensor components targeted for detection of chemical and biological warfare agents. The accomplishments include design/ fabrication of sensing films and test/evaluation of their performance. Best effort sensor components were incorporated into a first generation laboratory- based prototype hybrid integrated sensor suite that was tested against simulant and interferent species Technology advances were made in the areas of polymer, semiconducting metal oxide (SMO), and biochemical films that were coupled with impedance, piezoelectric, and chemiresisitive sensing platforms. Both polymer and semiconducting metal oxide based sensors were demonstrated to show responses to simulant molecules that mimic the properties of sarin and mustard chemical agents. Biosensor prototypes were shown to exhibit sensitivity to aqueous phase bacillus subtilus (anthrax model), ovalbumin (toxin model) and cholera subchain- B (semi-live agent). The results obtained for both chemical agent sensors and biosensors show promise for next generation development into integrated and packaged prototype hybrid sensor suites.