SBIR Phase II: Reliable low-cost, low-power methane sensors for explosive limit detection

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project in the long term has two main components. First, the development has potential to reduce the country's overall energy consumption by funding the development of low cost air quality sensors for energy efficient buildings. And second, the project will enhance the safety of our natural gas infrastructure with a low cost, low power methane (natural gas) sensor technology. This work will develop a methane (natural gas) sensor prototype with 10x lower cost, size and power consumption than current solutions. The proposed methane sensor will meet several currently unmet needs. These include enhanced public safety by enabling methane leak detection for natural gas distribution systems, and protecting first responders by enabling more and better methane detection in hazardous environments. This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will develop the world's most porous materials, Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) as a sensing material. MOFs have been an active topic in material science research for over a decade, but they have yet to find a commercial application. This project promises to be the first commercialization of this exciting new class of materials. Nearly 40,000 different MOF structures have been identified to date. The crux of this work is to use a combination of computer models and laboratory experimentation to optimize a MOF structure that selectively and rapidly absorbs methane gas. The end goal of this project is to develop a commercial prototype methane sensor 'on a chip' that consists of a solid state mass transducer with the MOF coating that has been tuned for sensing methane.