A new portable sensor system detects airborne organic chemicals about as accurately as a $25,000 machine confined to a lab. The device’s sensor element (above) holds an array of polymers deposited between capacitance plates; their ability to store electrical charge changes in specific ways when certain molecules are absorbed, enabling the device to identify those agents. The system incorporates a polymer called BSP3, invented at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, that is especially responsive to compounds such as nerve agents and certain pesticides.
Credit: Bruce Peterson
Product: SeaPORT SC-210
Don’t settle for half the story.
Get paywall-free access to technology news for the here and now.
MIT Technology Review provides an intelligent and independent filter for the flood of information about technology.
Subscribe now Already a subscriber? Sign in