AP4.2 - Wearable Chemical Hazard Detection Systems using Chip-scale Microsensors

A low-power microsensor technology for rapid detection of airborne chemical threats is presented. Leveraging N5’s chip-scale sensor platform, the next-generation of body-worn, i.e. wearable detectors capable of detecting various fire gases, toxic industrial chemicals, and chemical warfare agents can be realized. The sensor devices are based on a patented architecture, which combines a highperformance micro-machined semiconducting photoconductor with metal-oxide photocatalytic nanoclusters, resulting in selective micro sensors on-a-chip. The architecture represents a paradigmshift in low-power, compact chemical sensors, and addresses the capability gap that exists between the desperate need for low-power, wearable gas and chemical detectors and current inadequate mature sensor technologies that are used in handheld monitors.