Functional Additive Manufacturing for Printable & Networkable Sensors to Detect Energetics and Other Threat Materials

Explosive & chem-bio sensors are necessary to provide situational awareness and early warning against threat events from homemade explosives and weapons of mass destruction (WMD), to protect personnel and assets in missions ranging from integrated-base defense to forward operating bases and reconnaissance. The Department of Defense is interested in reducing costs, labor, and footprint while enhancing situational awareness and early warning to compress the time from threat event to commander decision. Small, low-cost, autonomous sensors are needed for modular, self-scaling, persistent, layered" surveillance networks. Applied Nanotech Inc. is teaming with Wayne State University to propose a printable nanowire-based sensor utilizing on an all-additive manufacturing approach. Other elements of the sensor, such as antenna structures for communication can also be printed on flexible substrates. Nanowire sensors are widely recognized as the next generation building block for the direct detection of chemical/biological species. The innovation is a simple and low-cost manufacturing technology of gas nanosensors. The organic nanowires are directly synthesized on printed electrical patterns as interconnects using electrocrystallization. Repeatability, sensitivity, and selectivity of prototype nanowire sensors have already been demonstrated; additional simulations, prototyping, and response pattern algorithms will be used to tailor new sensors to explosive/WMD analytes of interest.