Airborne Contaminant Collector

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Invention Summary: Airborne contaminant exposure assessment is a vital component of the protection of civil, governmental and military establishments.  Safety and security applications require the development of advanced devices capable of collecting and detecting biological and non-biological agents at low levels in difficult circumstances.  Today’s devices are ill suited to the current challenges because they require high concentration s of contaminants for reliable detection; power requirements make their use impossible or impractical in many environments or severely limit sampling time. Researchers at Rutgers have developed a novel airborne contaminant sampler with high sensitivity to biological and non-biological substances. The device includes an electrostatic precipitator with a superhydrophobic surface (EPSS), where a combination of the electrostatic collection mechanism and superhydrophobic surface allows for efficient airborne particle collection, removal, and concentration in liquid droplets as small as 5 μL.  The liquid containing the contaminant is then analyzed to identify the type and concentration of contaminant. Ability to concentrate the entire sample into such a small amount of liquid substantially improves the detection limit and minimizes the necessary sampling time.   Market Application: Fast detection of airborne biological and non-biological contaminants even at their low concentrations in various environments Advantages Sample collection rates higher than 1x106 /min – exceeds other collection technologies – and will allow detection of very low particle concentrations High collection efficiency Entire sample is concentrated in a single droplet leading to faster and more sensitive detection; could be combined with laboratory-on-a-chip Faster detection of airborne biological agents for biowarfare and security applications Two samples collected simultaneously – analysis by multiple techniques Low power consumption, the entire system is battery operated