Printable Explosives Detector: Ammonia Plays Vital Role>>>>>>>>

 Here is a good news from Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) where Dr. Krishna Naishadham and Judy Song (XiaoJuan), they have invented the first ink-jet printable ammonia sensor for affordable, practical explosives detection. This device which employs carbon nanotubes and is printed on paper or paper-like material, including the plastic base polyethylene terephthalate material using standard inkjet technology that was developed by scientists at the Georgia Institute of Technology.

It’s ink consists of silver nanoparticles that held in liquid emulsion that will get passed through an ink-jet printer’s 212 F (100 degree Celsius) temperature. And they say that this special ink with carbon nanotubes itself is treated with ultrasonic waves going through a process known as sonification which alters the viscosity and thus producing more homogenous ink for greater effectiveness.

These about 1/50,000^th width of human hair’s carbon nanotubes are then coated with a conductive polymer capable to attract ammonia for more effective explosives sensor in detecting trace amounts of ammonia as low as five parts per million. It uses different type of coatings so carbon nanotubes will be able to detect other chemical including gases. In this Ammonia is a key ingredient in the manufacture of many explosives.

The principal researcher Krishna Naishadham revealed that, “it incorporates a sensor and a communications device in a small, low-cost package that could operate almost anywhere.” Right now, the sensors made by using this method require some power in order to operate but scientists are already working on developing a sensor that runs passively without any power consumption at all.

The device is using both a sensor and a lightweight antenna, would allow what’s known as standoff detection, signaling the presence of trace explosive materials at a distance without endangering human lives. The printable explosives detector could deliver vitally needed, life-saving detectors that can be mass produced cheaply in any corner of the world.