PROJECT TITLE: A Heterojunction Solid-state Humidity Sensor for Probing Atmospheric Moisture
TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
Current meteorological humidity sensors suffer from a range of limitations. At high altitudes (with low pressures and temperatures) they are inaccurate, slow to respond to changes in humidity, and yield data with poor vertical resolution. They are also slow to recover after exposure to liquid water, as encountered on passing through a cloud. All of those factors combine to degrade data quality, and the quality of all derivative products, such as forecasts. Heterocontact sensors are proposed as a solution to this problem. These sensors offer a wide response range (up to six orders of magnitude) for accurate determination of humidity under a wider range of conditions. As solid state devices, they have a faster response time than current sensors. The advantages that these sensors offer can be further extended by including additional features in the sensors themselves, such as the use of dopants to fine tune the conductivity of the semiconducting elements and the addition of catalytic sites at the interface to improve the kinetics of the water electrolysis process, which is the key to the sensors functioning. Prototype sensors will be fabricated and their performance will be tested by evaluating sensitivity as a function of temperature and relative humidity.
POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
A huge commercial market exists at present for humidity sensors in applications including atmospheric and climate research, industrial processes such as polymer processing industries, the furniture industry, printing and paint industries, paper mills, the tobacco industry, the textile industry, humidity control systems in air conditioners, dryers, microwave ovens, refrigerators, computer rooms, hospitals, cleaning rooms, agricultural soil water content measurement, greenhouse, film processing, monitoring moisture in concrete and composite materials, and other electrical appliances. The proposed sensor, being both smaller and more responsive than current models, will have a wide range of potential applications.
NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
Alan J. Cisar
Lynntech, Inc.
7610 Eastmark Drive, Suite 202
College Station , TX 77840
NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR
Lynntech, Inc.
7610 Eastmark Drive, Suite 202
College Station , TX 77840-4042