Sorbent Coatings and Processing Techniques for Trace Analysis of Hazardous Materials in Micro/Nano Sensors

The trend towards developing portable instruments for detecting diverse hazardous substances on-site has required the integration of increasingly dense arrays of micro- or nanometer sized sensors. This system complexity evolved as a direct result of the demanding technical specifications to be met by these detectors such as less than six second analysis times, low false alarms and parts per trillion level detections. Sorbent polymers used in conjunction with the proper transducer can enhance sensitivity as well as selectivity to a class of analytes. This paper describes our efforts in designing sorbent polymers with hydrogen bond (hb) acidic groups for trace analysis of hazardous hb bases including chemical agents, toxic industrial chemicals and explosives. Further, we summarize our efforts at developing suitable coating techniques for fragile, micron-sized sensor arrays to improve analytical performance.