A compromise in air quality can pose a tremendous risk to public health. Current methods to identify airborne chemicals use time-consuming analysis techniques like gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS), which can take hours or days to deliver results. In emergency situations such as gas leaks or natural disasters, instant identification of airborne chemicals is necessary to identify and mitigate risks.
Researchers at Nanyang Technological Univ. Singapore (NTU Singapore) have developed a platform for real-time air monitoring that can significantly improve the detection of hazardous chemicals. The platform detects airborne chemicals from long distances using a stand-off, surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) technique that incorporates metal-organic framework (MOF) materials.
Raman spectroscopy identifies molecules based on certain molecular fingerprints that are released as vibrations when molecules interact with light. Stand-off Raman spectroscopy is simply a long-range version of the classic technique. Whereas traditional Raman spectroscopy analyzes molecules in close proximity (distances less than 1 m), stand-off Raman can be used to evaluate molecules from larger distances, even up to 100 m...
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