A Sensor Array for the Detection and Discrimination of Methane and Other Environmental Pollutant Gases

Ami Hannon; Yijiang Lu; Jing Li; M Meyyappan

doi:10.3390/s16081163

A Sensor Array for the Detection and Discrimination of Methane and Other Environmental Pollutant Gases

Sensors (Basel). 2016 Jul 25;16(8):1163. doi: 10.3390/s16081163.

Authors

Ami Hannon^{1

2}, Yijiang Lu^{3

4}, Jing Li⁵, M Meyyappan⁶

Affiliations

¹ NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA 94035, USA. ami.m.hannon@nasa.gov.
² Analtyical Mechanics Associates, Inc. at NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA 94035, USA. ami.m.hannon@nasa.gov.
³ NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA 94035, USA. yijiang.lu-1@nasa.gov.
⁴ ELORET Corporation at NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA 94035, USA. yijiang.lu-1@nasa.gov.
⁵ NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA 94035, USA. jing.li-1@nasa.gov.
⁶ NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA 94035, USA. m.meyyappan@nasa.gov.

Abstract

We address the sensitive detection and discrimination of gases impacting the environment, such as CH₄, NH₃, SO₂, and CO, using a sensor array and aided by principal component analysis (PCA). A 32-element chemiresistive sensor array consisting of nine different sensor materials including seven types of modified single-walled carbon nanotubes and two types of polymers has been constructed. PCA results demonstrate excellent discriminating ability of the chemiresistor sensor chip in the 1-30 ppm concentration range. The accuracy of the sensor was verified against data collected using cavity ring down spectroscopy. The sensor chip has also been integrated with a smartphone and has been shown to reproduce the sensing performance obtained with the laboratory measurement system.

Keywords: electronic nose; functionalized nanotubes; gas sensor; principal component analysis; room temperature gas sensing; selective methane sensor; smartphone based sensor.