Professor Jun-Bo Yoon’s research team in our faculty has developed a technology that can prevent safety accidents by automatically detecting harmful gases in confined spaces.
His research team independently developed an ultra-low-power harmful gas detection sensor that can operate at all times (always-on) using a nanomaterial called “nanolene”.
Nanolene is a two-dimensional material that has a structure with aligned bundles of nanowires floating in the air. Recently, metal oxides are attracting attention as a gas sensor material that detects harmful gases such as carbon monoxide. Still, there is a limit that it is difficult to apply on portable devices such as smartphones because such sensors can operate at high temperatures of around several hundred degrees.
The research team solved this problem through nanolene. Instead of the conventional microheater, they have developed a new type of nanoheater gas sensor in which metal oxide nanowires are aligned with the heater material. It is a method that can dramatically reduce the heat loss to the substrate by using the unique thermal isolation effect of nanomaterials.
The professor Jun-Bo Yoon said, “Miners used to take canaries to coal mines to detect carbon monoxide in the past. Similarly, we will be able to use the harmful gas detection sensor as a “canary in a smartphone”.”
The research results were published in the online edition of the international journal ‘Advanced Functional Materials’ on the 12th of last month.
Menu
