Towards an electronic nose based on nano-structured transition metal oxides activated by a tuneable UV light source

Traditional gas sensors involve heating the sensor material for gas selectivity. New gas approaches require activation by a broadband UV light source. We propose to employ a tuneable UV source in which this source is tuned for its many wavelengths via a grating and associated optics and transducers. The theory of UV activated gas sensing is presented and the first calculated sensitivity spectrum is discussed in term of the energy balance among the many channels of energy loss when the light interacts with the sensing nano-structure's surface. Experiments to validate the calculations are on-going and some preliminary results are presented.