Sensor Developments

The importance of clean air is being acknowledged more and more. One of The great polluters in The Netherlands is traffic. On a yearly basis, thousands of people decease prematurely as a result of traffic-emissions. Soot and NO_x, being produced by traffic, are the most harmfull substances. Furthermore, the quality of air in buildings is being threatened, while buildings are better isolated and smoke, kitchenfumes and NO_x of water heaters are not being ventilated out of the buildings/houses. Gas detection equipment is, in general, expensive and hard to operate. The department Materials Testing develops sensors to meausure, for several applications, the air quality, specifically NO_x and small dust. These sensors have to be small and payable so they can be used in a wide variaty of situations. The developments in the optica and nanotechnology are, therefore, very interesting. An example is the NO_x/NO₂ sensor, which uses a new technique to detect NO₂ and which we like to apply. The detector will be several centimeters in size with a sensitivity up to 50 ppb. We want to expand the technique to also be able to measure NO_x. The costs will stay low, because low cost components are being used.