Webinar | Flame-made gas sensing devices of high selectivity, with Prof Sotiris E. Pratsinis
17 June 2021, 1:00 pm–2:00 pm

Smartphones offer physical (voice, location and touch) recognition but not any molecular (chemical) recognition. Can combustion aerosol processes help here? Their steep temperature gradients and high particle concentrations during particle formation give access to metastable compositions and fractal-like porous but rigid film structures, all unattained by conventional wet or dry processes. These characteristics have led already to sensors of high sensitivity, selectivity and stability along with short response/recovery times. Broad applications of chemical sensors, however, are hindered mostly by selectivity. This can be enhanced drastically by assembling sensing devices and capitalizing on pre-treatment of gas mixtures.
This event is free.
Event Information
Open to
- All | UCL alumni
Availability
- Yes
Cost
- Free
Organiser
-
Dr Nelia Jurado Pontes on behalf of the Energy and Environment Research Division, UCL Engineering
The selectivity of chemical sensors can be enhanced drastically by assembling sensing devices and capitalizing on pre-treatment of gas mixtures. By placing a flame-made Pd-doped SnO2 sensor downstream of a polymeric adsorbent bed enables selective detection of methanol at high ethanol concentrations in liquor, hand sanitizers and even human breath for prevention of methanol poisoning, a plague in the developing world. Such advances enable mobile health monitoring, on-site food safety assessment and air quality tracking as it will be shown with formaldehyde for indoor air pollution.
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Image credit: Terry Vlisidis on Unsplash.
About the Speaker
Professor S.E. Pratsinis
Professor of process engineering and materials science at ETH Zurich
Professor S.E. Pratsinis teaches Mass Transfer and Micro-Nano-Particle Technology at ETH Zurich where he advises four PhDs and four post-docs. He has graduated 44 PhDs, now at leading positions in industry and academia worldwide, while he has published 400+ refereed articles and has 20+ patents that are licensed to industry and have contributed to creation of four spinoffs, from which one joined the LSE on December 2020. His research on multiscale particle dynamics pioneered flame aerosol synthesis of several sophisticated nanostructured materials with closely controlled characteristics at kg/h, even at academic laboratories. This contributed to identifying the origins of nanosilver toxicity, led to novel catalysts and, for the first time, to flame-made gas sensors, nutritional supplements, dental & theranostic materials.
More about Professor S.E. Pratsinis