Porous materials as indoor gas sensors
Basic information
Project Title
Full project title
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Project Description
Indoor air pollution ranks among the most pressing environmental and health challenges worldwide, yet one of the most underestimated. These indoor air pollutions, more known as volatile organic compounds, significantly worsen the quality of air that we breathe. This work presents a process to for new materials that will be used in sensitive sensors of the future that can be integrated on common devices. Like a "dog's nose in your smartphones", these sensors will be used to detect pollutants.
Project Region
EU Programme or fund
Description of the project
Summary
Indoor air pollution ranks among the most pressing environmental and health challenges worldwide, yet one of the most underestimated. These indoor air pollutions, more known as volatile organic compounds (VOCs), comes from carpets, paints, cleaning products, kitchen-related activities, which significantly worsen the quality of air that we breathe. As these compounds can result in chronic health problems, a robust and reliable gas sensor is imperative. Not only these VOCs can cause discomfort, but can also lead to fatal conditions such as respiratory diseases, cancer, etc.[1] Since VOCs can cause not only discomfort but also debilitating or even fatal conditions (e.g., respiratory diseases, cancer),[2] it is important to measure these VOCs with high sensitivity and selectivity, but with minimal cost, and in a user-friendly, uncomplicated platform.
Selectively measuring gases using traditional sensors is challenging because of the low concentration of these VOCs and the many other compounds in indoor air that might interfere with the measurements. Porous materials have garnered tremendous interest within the scientific community and the industry attributed to their many other captivating applications. Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) a subclass of porous solids comprised of metal-containing nodes interconnected by polytopic organic linkers. MOFs have been tapped as prime candidates for industrial applications. While solution-based MOF synthesis, typically via powder preparation routes, carries advantages for its simplicity and cost-effectiveness, its fabrication as thin films that are compatible with large-scale production facilities is imperative to make it viable for microfabrication. In this work, the colossal potential of MOF on solid-state device integration such as gas sensors will be demonstrated.
[1] P. L. Jenkins, et. al Atmospheric Environment. Part A. General Topics 1992, 26, 2141.
[2] G. D. Nielsen, P. Wolkoff, Arch Toxicol 2010, 84, 423.
Key objectives for sustainability
The central research topic of the Ph.D. project is the development of a thin-film deposition protocol viable on the commercial scale, to facilitate MOF-integration in typical semiconductor manufacturing systems for future commercial applications especially gas sensors for indoor air quality monitoring.
As a principal objective in the interdisciplinary research, MOF chemistry and synthetic protocols are merged with well-established and advanced unit operations in the cleanroom. The ancillary objective was the demonstration of scale-up strategies and protocol refinement for immediate implementation in the nanofoundries. A third objective is the cooperative exploitation of previously incompatible fields via specialized research centers interested in the unique properties of MOFs. This includes international large-scale facilities, industrial R&D centers, and research institutes interested in industry-related metrics such as cost of production, large-scale reactor design, improvement of space-time yield, etc.
The projects using the output of this Ph.D. research will result in collaborative, international, and interdisciplinary driven research aimed at introducing the coating in the commercial scales of microfabrication. The results of this Ph.D. dissertation directly contribute to at least four United Nationals Sustainable Development Goals.
- Goal 3: Good Health and Well-Being – the potential of the gas sensor for early diagnostics of chronic diseases
- Goal 7: Affordable and Clean Energy – energy storage (solid-state batteries) as one promising application
- Goal 9: Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure – air quality monitoring with MOF thin films
- Goal 12: Responsible Consumption and Production – the MOF-CVD and MOF MLD processes, being a solvent-free process, contribute to sustainable manufacturing.
The foundation established in this work will be the groundwork of start-up companies and further collaboration with other research institutes in Europe.
Key objectives for aesthetics and quality
Key objectives in aesthetics and quality of experience
- The sensors are miniaturized so it will not impact the aesthetics of the building structure.
- The materials are envisioned to be integrated into a smartphone for ease of user experience.
- The sensors will hopefully improve the quality of life of the people.
Key objectives in inclusion
- The materials coming out of this work will hopefully be installed in many smartphone devices to increase and widen the scope.
- Education and learning through science communication is an important pillar of this project.
Key objectives for inclusion
Science Communication Strategy
- Local and international awards via scientific congress
- 1st Place, Vrije Universiteit Brussels Ph.D. Cup (2018)
- 1st Place Best Poster Award, Venice International Academy on Sustainable Energy, Italy (2018)
- 1st Place Best Poster Award, European Synchrotron Energy Materials Workshop, Grenoble, France (2019)
- 1st Place Winner, Infineon Technologies Pitch, Villach, Austria (2019)
- 1st Prize Winner, Park Atomic Force Microscopy Scholarship (2020)
- Co-chair of the imec Ph.D. Society (2019-2020), organized various events in the field of sustainability (with Prof. Jos Delbeke, former Director-General for Climate at the European Commission, Leuven Mayor Mohamed Ridouani, etc.)
- Promoting Flemish and Belgian Science in various conferences and scientific dissemination activities within Belgium, Luxembourg, Slovenia, Slovakia, Greece, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, France, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and various institutions in the United States.
- Winner of the national prize in Falling Walls Belgium, and the representative of the country in the Falling Walls Lab Global Science Forum 2020 (virtual, broadcasted from Berlin, Germany). https://falling-walls.com/remote2020/finalists/breaking-the-wall-of-nanomaterials-in-gas-sensors/.
- Represented Flanders and Belgium in prestigious international scientific convention | EuroScience Open Forum (ESOF), a biennial, pan-European, general science conference dedicated to scientific research and innovation. Selected by ESOF and the Research Foundation Flanders (FWO) to represent Belgium for the 2020 edition in Trieste, Italy. https://www.euroscientist.com/voice-early-career-researchers/
- Science communication video recording in the form of a 3-minute pitch with Science Figured Out and EOS Wetenschap, Scriptie vzw (2020). A dog’s nose in your smartphone. Wetenschap uitgedokterd. https://www.sciencefiguredout.be/dogs-nose-your-smartphone.
- Publication in renowned journals.
Innovative character
- A multidisciplinary approach was the very definition of this Ph.D. work, as it brings together two high-specialized research groups in world-renowned research institutes in Belgium: KU Leuven Centre for Membrane Separations, Adsorption, Catalysis and Spectroscopy in the realms of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel – Research Group Electrochemical and Surface Engineering. This dissertation is built upon the class of materials previously applied in the inorganic, wet chemistry lab, into the areas of solid-state devices and microelectronics aided by materials science and chemical engineering.
- The techniques employed in the experimental work are an amalgamation of various specialized scientific disciplines. Given one of the founding pillars of innovation in microelectronics is materials development, never before had over 25 techniques in a typical nanofoundry have been applied for a material first discovered in the lab bench. The inherent blurring of traditional subject boundaries in this Ph.D. project is demonstrated by dissemination in broad-scope journals with a strong emphasis on interdisciplinary work that could revolutionize various fields (Chemistry of Materials, Chemical Communications, Talanta, etc.).
- Collaborative efforts from different universities in Belgium and abroad, research groups specializing in different domains and expertise as integral parts of the Ph.D. research
- Joint publications together with principal investigators affiliated outside my department and/or contributing to other scientific disciplines
