Our team can develop low-cost ultra-flexible sensors integrated on plastic substrate for volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and gas detection. These devices combine scalable fabrication technologies, implementing active materials such as nanostructured metal oxides or stack of nanostructures decorated with metal nanoparticles, thus enabling a high sensitivity (in the range of hundreds of ppb). These devices can be applied to numerous industrial and commercial sectors and they can be embedded in systems that are more sophisticated. These sensors operate at room temperature and can detect pollutants like NO, NO2, CO, CO2, CH4 or alcohols and solvents. These devices can be deployed on smart sensor networks in order to build a distributed and light monitoring infrastructure.
The advantages of these sensors are several: 1) Ultra-flexibility for covering non-planar surfaces; 2) Low visual impact (almost transparent); 3) Large range of detection (500 ppb-500 ppm); 4) Low working temperature (25°C); 5) Active materials can be easily tuned to create different sensors (electronic nose approach).