Description :  Chemical warfare agents are one of the major threats to homeland security. For this reason, a particularly important national need exists for enhancing the safety and security of environments ranging from residential structures to subways, to airports and even borders. Research that clears the path for the development of low cost, fat, rugged, and extremely sensitive sensors for real-time monitoring is of high demand to homeland security. Such sensitive and selective microsensors for continuous monitoring of organophosphorus compounds can be developed by using multilayer modified microcantilevers. In particular, this research focuses on applying the layer-by-layer self-assembly technique to create sensors that have applications in environmental sciences, food safety, clinical diagnostic endeavors, and industry. Requirements such as sensitivity, small size, automatic operation, low cost, ruggedness, and most importantly, simultaneous multiple species detection make the microcantilever sensor array approach very attractive.

---

Principal Investigator:  Ji, Frank  --  Chemistry

---

Collaborators:  Yuri Lvov

---

Funding Agencies:  National Science Foundation

---

Amount Awarded:  $225,000

---

Start Period:  09/01/2004

End Period:  08/31/2007