SBIR-STTR Award

This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project will develop a new and improved sensor material to detect the vapors of peroxide-based homemade explosives. The Department of Homeland Security and Department of Defense have identified peroxide-based homemade explosive detection as a top priority need. Terrorists worldwide continue to carry explosives onto airplanes and transport them through the mail. In addition, sixty percent of US and Allied deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan are related to improvised explosive devices (IEDs). Vaporsens is developing a revolutionary detector capable of continuous, non-contact detection of explosive threats. The sensor material to be used in the detector can identify the majority of explosives - with the exception of peroxide-base explosives. To develop this multi-target detector, the company must demonstrate the feasibility of detecting peroxide-based explosives with its novel sensor material. The outcome will be a highly sensitive peroxide sensor material ready to be to be integrated into our multi-target explosive detector product. The broader impact/commercial potential of this project will address our homeland security needs to chemically detect explosives accurately, quickly, and in a non-intrusive manner. The small, fast-acting detector will be ideal for portable explosive detectors and also for integration into existing security monitoring, building ventilation, and detection systems. Furthermore, the development of such a technology is feasible from an investment standpoint because potential commercial value is high

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will develop a working prototype of a handheld detector for trace explosives that is smaller, more sensitive, and has faster response times than any commercially available portable device today. Under NSF Phase I SBIR funding of this project, Vaporsens, Inc. successfully developed new organic nanofiber sensory materials required to achieve these goals. In Phase II, the company will design and optimize the sensor systems, electronic hardware, firmware and algorithm software required to build a handheld detector. The novel nanofiber sensory materials developed by Vaporsens will enable the proposed detector to simultaneously detect all three important categories of explosives with greater sensitivity, due to detection limits in the parts per trillion range. Prototypes will be subjected to third party testing to validate the rapid, sensitive, and selective detection of common explosives. The Phase II project will also permit the design and fabrication of new sensor materials, with the aim of further improving the sensing sensitivity and selectivity of subsequent devices through interface chemistry optimization.The broader impact/commercial potential of the project will reduce the impact of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) which are a leading cause of casualties in contemporary warfare. IED use outside of warfare is growing, with over 170 incidents reported in the US alone during the first six months of 2013. As a result, the worldwide annual sales for trace explosives detection equipment has grown to approximately $400 million. However, these technologies are limited in their effectiveness. Swabbing machines require contact; bomb-sniffing dogs are expensive, need to work with the same handler, and have limited endurance; and imaging technologies are only practical in checkpoint settings due to size and expense. In contrast, the small size and high sensitivity of the proposed detector will be used for exacting detection of trace amounts of explosives in nearly any location, without swabbing, and at a cost that meets or exceeds the lowest price of detectors on the market. The commercialized device will be the first of its kind to allow local law enforcement and other public safety officials, border security and the military to "sniff" suspicious bags, vehicles, lockers, and people for dangerous explosive threats with immediate results regardless of their location.