| NSF Org: |
ECCS Division of Electrical, Communications and Cyber Systems |
| Recipient: |
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| Initial Amendment Date: | June 1, 2015 |
| Latest Amendment Date: | June 1, 2015 |
| Award Number: | 1509912 |
| Award Instrument: | Standard Grant |
| Program Manager: |
Shubhra Gangopadhyay
ECCS Division of Electrical, Communications and Cyber Systems ENG Directorate for Engineering |
| Start Date: | June 1, 2015 |
| End Date: | May 31, 2019 (Estimated) |
| Total Intended Award Amount: | $367,558.00 |
| Total Awarded Amount to Date: | $367,558.00 |
| Funds Obligated to Date: |
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| History of Investigator: |
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| Recipient Sponsored Research Office: |
201 PRESIDENTS CIR SALT LAKE CITY UT US 84112-9049 (801)581-6903 |
| Sponsor Congressional District: |
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| Primary Place of Performance: |
UT US 84112-8930 |
| Primary Place of
Performance Congressional District: |
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| Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): |
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| Parent UEI: |
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| NSF Program(s): | CCSS-Comms Circuits & Sens Sys |
| Primary Program Source: |
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| Program Reference Code(s): |
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| Program Element Code(s): |
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| Award Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Fund Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Assistance Listing Number(s): | 47.041 |
ABSTRACT
Proposal 1509912
Title: A bubble gas sensor for quantitative chemical analysis
PI: Kim, Hanseup
Brief description of project goals:
This project aims to investigate the science of micro-scale fluidic phenomena and develop a high-performance gas sensor.
a) Nontechnical Abstract:
Quantification is one of the most critical parameters in many analytical applications, especially when interfacing with the chemical and biological domains, which feature enormous diversity in elements. Despite remarkable progress, miniature gas sensors still remain incapable of measuring gas quantity precisely because of issues in response drift, saturation, and limited specificity. This project proposes the development of a sensing mechanism that addresses such issues by investigating unexplored fluidic phenomena in the micro-domain and by demonstrating a microfluidic sensor. The proposed research will provide a new paradigm in gas sensing and quantification and will have a broad range of societal impacts in numerous fields, including occupational safety regulation, environmental sciences, personal and community behavioral sciences, homeland security, chemical manufacturing, and health science. In this context, the proposed project will provide a foundation for highly inter-disciplinary research and education, where students are exposed to broadly connected societal values among engineering, science, medicine, social sciences, and public policy. This program will also provide an opportunity to reach out to the K-12 community in collaboration with a local museum; to industry via intellectual property generation directed toward commercialization; and to the undergraduate and graduate students via class development on important advances in novel sensing mechanisms and microfluidics principles.
b) Technical Abstract:
This project aims (1) to establish a novel class of a gas sensing principle by investigating the science of microfluidic bubble formation and (2) to fabricate a bubble-based sensor which improves gas sensing performance by two orders of magnitude in comparison to existing counterparts. Specifically, this project will investigate the microfluidic gas/liquid interface properties of various gas types via microfabricated structures. An optimized prototype of a high performance gas sensor will be microfabricated to demonstrate high-precision gas quantification. By combining the fundamental science studies with experimental data, the proposed research is expected to establish fundamental and comprehensive understanding on bubble formation phenomena in the microfluidic domain, in relation to gas-liquid interfacial parameters. Such an understanding will enable this program to further demonstrate a high-precision micro gas sensor device that is capable of quantifying gas amounts with outstanding dynamic range, resolution, and linearity.
PUBLICATIONS PRODUCED AS A RESULT OF THIS RESEARCH
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PROJECT OUTCOMES REPORT
Disclaimer
This Project Outcomes Report for the General Public is displayed verbatim as submitted by the Principal Investigator (PI) for this award. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this Report are those of the PI and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation; NSF has not approved or endorsed its content.
This project demonstrated a new proof of concept sensor, ?bubble chromatography? that first time utilized a bubble as a sensing element. The developed bubble chromatography was able to amplify the subtle differences in viscosity among gases into size differences in bubbles when gas is directed into a liquid stream to form a series of bubbles through a micro nozzle. To elucidate such operation principles, some important microfludic phenomena were theoretically modelled, including the conversion of viscosity difference into pressure transient and the amplification of pressure transients along a nano-scale channel. The developed bubble chromatography system, consisting of microfluidic channels, a nozzle and a detector, showed that (1) a bubble size was correlated to a gas type; that (2) a bubble size was also correlated to a gas concentration within a bubble; that (3) a continuous bubble flow of multiple gases could generate a chromatogram as the bubbles to their characteristic sizes; and that (4) nano-gram level quantification was enabled due to the discrete nature of bubble formation. The developed bubble chromatography system demonstrated high-sensitivity and -stability as an efficient gas sensor and provided a foundation for an efficient interface between gas and liquid useful for various applications including biological studies.
Last Modified: 09/11/2019
Modified by: Hanseup Kim
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