Field Trials with, and Talking to Industry about, a Polymer-based Explosive Vapour Sensor System

Description

Work has been ongoing in recent years in the Organic Semiconductor Centre labs developing explosive vapour sensors, based on luminescent polymer films, for the detection of landmines and IEDs. Advances in the development of a portable sensing platform based on these materials have been made recently, with field trials undertaken to assess the feasibility of the method. The original prototype was upgraded from a micropump sampling architecture to include a heating element, allowing polymer materials to act as “pre-concentrators” that increase the mass of explosive molecules in a REST filter configuration. One field trial was conducted in late summer in coastal Croatia with honeybee colonies used as the carriers of explosive molecules, with the hive air sampled for trace levels of explosives. Another trial was conducted in central Sweden in mid-winter with IED type explosives, where containers were detonated then swabbed with the pre-concentration material for post-blast forensics. Results from these trials are presented, alongside the efforts of speaking to industry figures and end-users to further the impact of the work.

Period	6 Apr 2017
Event title	SPIE Student Chapter seminar
Event type	Other
Location	United KingdomShow on map
Degree of Recognition	Local