SBIR-STTR Award

The overall goal of this Phase I project is to demonstrate the feasibility of an infrared transparent, micro-fluidic sampling system that will lead to a field-deployable detection system capable of detecting low ppb levels of chemical warfare (CW) agents in water. To accomplish this goal, the proposed detection system will combine high surface area, organically modified mesoporous oxide absorptive materials that are coated within a micro-fluidic sampling system for CW agent collection and concentration. Detection and identification of the concentrated CW agent will be accomplished by direct analysis of the micro-fluidic device via Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR). The main advantages of this approach are that it can operate in heterogeneous aqueous environments and will provide fast detection (< 10 min) and high sensitivity/selectivity to nonvolatile CW agents with minimal false alarms.

Keywords:
Chemical Detection, Mesoporous Oxide, Infrared Spectrum, Microfluidic, Solid Phase Extraction

The overall goal of this Phase II project is to develop a prototype micro-fluidic sampling system that will lead to a field-deployable detection system capable of detecting low ppb levels of chemical warfare agents (CWAs) and explosive precursors in water. The proposed work will capitalize on Phase I successes in which the feasibility of using an infrared-based micro-fluidic sampling system was demonstrated against a CWA simulant. Micro-fluidic devices were fabricated from IR-grade silicon wafers and coated with absorptive silica sol-gel films for agent retention, and the concentrated agent was detected and analyzed via transmission FTIR spectroscopy directly through the micro-fluidic device. The novelty of this approach for CWA detection is that, unlike traditional solid phase extraction (SPE) techniques which require an elution step to analyze the collected agent, the proposed micro-fluidic sampling system incorporates SPE concentration capabilities onto a platform that is suitable for direct analysis and easy integration with an infrared-based detection system. The outcome of this two year effort will lead to the development of multiple microfluidic arrays packaged onto a single chip for multi-agent collection and detection.

Keywords:
Chemical Detection ,Mesoporous Oxide, Infrared Spectrum, Microfluidic, Solid Phase Extraction