Low Cost On-Demand Phosphine Sensors

Red phosphorous is prone to releasing toxic and flammable phosphine gas when exposed to moisture. Since red-phosphorous based-items are stored in sealed containers, sometimes for decades at a time, it’s important to know the concentration of phosphine before opening the container to avoid any safety issues or the need for extensive safety gear. Commercial sensors exist but are expensive and impractical for usage with these containers. It is desired to have a long-lasting, low-cost, safe sensor that can output phosphine concentration on demand, ideally from 0.01 ppm up to 100 ppm. Luna Labs proposes to achieve this through integrating low-cost electronics based on our sensor expertise with a unique materials-based sensor solution to output phosphine concentration without causing corrosion or ignition hazards from the supporting electronics.