Nanoscale Materials, Devices, and Systems for Sensing, Detection, and Environmental Pollution Monitoring and Mitigation

The objective of this investigation is to utilize nanoscale materials, devices, and systems as in-situ sensors and detectors of chemical and biological agents coupled with remote satellite image processed data for environmental air pollution monitoring. The efficacy of nanoparticles based environmental sensing using commercially available nanoscale metal-oxide based gas detectors is augmented by image processed satellite data to monitor local and regional air pollution dispersion. To extend our research to other forms of pollution, we present preliminary investigations of nanotechnology based sensors towards mitigating air and water based contaminants. Similar extensions of preliminary research results towards the detection of food and air-borne pathogens using nanoparticles based diagnostic tools are also presented