SBIR-STTR Award

This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project will develop and commercialize a new generation of low-cost, disposable carbon dioxide gas sensors based on carbon nanotube sensor elements. The sensors will combine cutting-edge nanoelectronics with recognition chemistry coatings to make nanosensors that can measure carbon dioxide in breath (capnography). The sensors will be small enough to fit into the respiratory tube or nasal cannulae of patients requiring respiratory monitoring. This innovation will lower the cost of many surgical procedures and facilitate capnography monitoring in mobile and temporary settings by decoupling capnography from expensive, fixed monitoring equipment. The net benefits will include improved patient care and lower costs for healthcare providers. The project will take advantage of recent developments in fabricating hybrid nanotube-silicon transducers. This project will help move nanotechnology out of research laboratories into the commercial realm, thereby encouraging additional investment and overall R&D spending. Perhaps most important of all, the technology has the potential to make a small but important move toward lowered healthcare costs with improved patient care

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will develop a carbon dioxide sensor, using polymer modified carbon nanotudes, for patients receiving anesthesia. The sensor technology relies on two important areas of expertise : the nanotube transducer platform and gas analyte recognition layers. The Phase II project objectives will include optimizing the platform and recognition chemistries that were developed in Phase I. Once a technically suitable recipe is known, sensor chips will be fabricated at the wafer level for large scale testing. The capnography sensors will be packaged and embedded in disposable adapters that fits directly into the patient airway. Hardware and software systems will be designed and integrated with the adapter to deliver sensor information to the end user. At the culmination of Phase II, the capnography sensor system will be validated in a clinical environment and positioned for FDA approval and subsequent market introduction. The commercial application of this project will be in the area of healthcare. The proposed sensor will have the attributes of low power, small size and low cost