WHAT: Dissertation Defense
WHERE: Dean’s Seminar Room, Engineering & Architecture Building
WHEN: 2:00-3:00 PM on Monday, November 28th, 2011
WHO: Son Truong Nguyen
 
TITLE:
“Multiple Gas Sensing Device Based on Nano-Porous Structure of Zeolite Coated with Nile Red Dye”

ABSTRACT:

Gas detection is vital in different fields including environmental applications, clinical analysis, and homeland security. To perform these tasks, the sensors need to be stable, sensitive, selective, operating at room temperature, rapidly responding, and easy to regenerate. On the other hand, most chemical sensors often suffer from a lack of selectivity, i.e., reacting more or less similarly to a collection of substances. As a result, this has led to false alert. Moreover, in a worse scenario, the molecules to be detected have been masked by some interfering compounds.

 The goal of this research was to develop a portable gas-sensing device that integrates a zeolite/dye unit with an optoelectronic detector. The nano-sensor will be more accurate, more sensitive, can better differentiate and detect one chemical component in a mixture of different gases. This could be achieved by incorporating fluorescent dyes into the zeolites’ cavities, measuring gas absorption, desorption and photo-chromic interaction of dye and gases, interfacing the zeolite/dye sensor arrays with light source and electronic detectors; and fully integrating the sensor arrays into a portable unit. This research included incorporating fluorescent dye, Nile Red, into the zeolite-Y cavities, design of the optical system to excite and to collect optical response of zeolite/nile-red combinations, design and simulation of electronic circuits to condition and to process electrical signal, and overall design of an integrated gas detector onto a pressed ceramic optical bench.

Advisor: Dr. Z. Joan Delalic
Committee: Dr. David M. Karbo, Dr. Joel B. Sheffield, Dr. Dennis Silage, Dr. Li Bai

 All are invited!

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