Emerging Markets
Global politics and global consumer patterns are creating new markets, but the largest emerging market is health: personalised health, non- invasive health care and real time personal health monitoring.
GAS DETECTION- PREDICTING THE FUTURE
Wearables and Smart Phone Sensors are needed urgently, we are told. The people spreading the message are the manufacturers of smart phones, tablets and lifestyle monitors. Accelerometers, GPS, temperature sensors and pressure/pulse monitors are well established but these manufacturers are looking for the next big thing and it is chemical sensors, biosensors and gas sensors. What gases do they want to measure? Smart phone breathalysers (ethanol) bad breath detectors (H2 monitors (NO2
S) and wearable air quality ) are on their list.
Explosives/ IED detection became a signifi cant market after 9/11. This demand is global and driven by the security requirements of every country. Attempts to detect explosives in the fi eld at ppt concentrations in seconds is a challenge that has not yet been met. Organometallic and metal oxide arrays, fl uorescence, FTIR and Raman spectroscopy, Ion Mobility Spectroscopy and “portable” GC and MS have all been tried, but with either slow processing time or inadequate selectivity or sensitivity. A signifi cant breakthrough is required and either orthogonal multiple technologies or synthetic biology may provide the answer in years to come.
The health monitoring market is potentially a massive market, limited only by the available technologies. Non-invasive real-time personal health monitoring is the goal for support in assisted living, GP breath analysis for early detection of cancers and many other diseases, skin emissions to give a running diary of our wellbeing. These are just a few of the potential applications.
Sensor Technologies Have New Challenges
The path from basic research to applied research, then product development/ engineering has quickened and there is no lack of optimism on what can be achieved. Some of this optimism is justifi ed, some is not.
Planar Electrochemical Toxic Sensors have been on the market for a few years, with varying levels of success. The Ceramic-based structures appear to have been the fi rst, but problems persist with the organic/ ionic liquid electrolyte. The fi rst planar sensors based on aqueous electrolyte are completing UL approval. Planar designs allow for lower cost and better form factor for smart phone type designs and potentially wearable sensors, but sensitivity and selectivity must match the performance of standard 20.0 (dia) x 16,6mm (ht) sensors. Shrinking to smart phone and wearables dimensions and meeting their extended environmental requirements are further in the future.
New markets are on the horizon, relying on the latest
research to be turned into product. What are the market drivers and the potential opportunities from technology breakthroughs? We fi rst consider new markets and then some technology opportunities for both emerging markets and existing markets.
VOC Detection is more diffi cult than measuring inorganic gases: there are thousands of VOCs, and many are molecularly similar but very different in their toxicity. Current technology such as metal oxides and PIDs have adequate sensitivity (1-20 ppbv) but very little selectivity. The perennial question is whether to measure a family of VOCs (e.g. aromatics, amines, mercaptans) or target a specifi c VOC (e.g. formaldehyde, benzene, ethanol). Non-specifi c VOC indication is only useful as a relative indicator- for example, we can only confi rm that there are more VOCs today than there were yesterday.
Some technologies are now able to detect specifi c VOCs, using different forms of spectroscopy. They are still limited by high cost, restricted portability/ power and/ or poor sensitivity (also Limit of Detection: LoD).
Tunable Diode Laser Absorption spectroscopy (TDLAS/ TDLS) measures a single absorption peak, normally in the near-IR region. This peak must be chosen carefully to ensure it is measuring only the desired VOC and temperature control is critical. This method has been around for decades, but has been missing the diode lasers that are specifi c to the required wavelength and with better stability. These diode lasers are now becoming available at reasonable cost, so TDLS modules should soon be available for a cost of about £500- £800/ea for some common VOCs.
Ion Mobility Spectroscopy (IMS) has been used for decades in airports to screen for dangerous and illegal materials. By measuring the speed of drift of ionised molecules, it can identify a specifi c molecule from a small selection of molecules. Field Asymmetric IMS (FAIMS) offers more specifi city and fl exibility and the use of MEMS has shrunk the IMS to small dimensions. So IMS is a good opportunity, but sampling of the atmosphere requires smart engineering and preconcentration is required to achieve good sensitivity. Although IMS systems are available now, the cost
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