Periodic Reporting for period 1 - VolcanAI (Volcan Activity monItoring by light cycled dynamic opeRation of metal oxide gas sensors)
Reporting period: 2023-11-01 to 2026-04-30
There exists a direct relation between gas emissions and earth’s dynamics and climate: the impact of anthropogenic emissions and volcanic eruptions on the climate are well known and from the opposite, the effect of the climate on the volcano activity remains mainly unexplored. To develop climate-volcano models and improve eruption predictive models, a comprehensive study of volcanic emissions is necessary. Reference measuring systems, which are used by the National civil protection agencies and which one can find in the market, are highly sensitive, complex, bulky, expensive and have a high power-consumption. Consequently, they can only be installed in few specific locations. For an accurate spatial monitor of these complex gas mixture emissions, however, a large number of sensing systems need to be deployed and connected, providing the required ubiquity, something which is possible nowadays thanks to Internet of Things (IoT). Usually, these systems do not need to meet the sensitivity level of the reference instruments. The present project addresses the development, fabrication, and testing of gas sensors for their implementation in IoT systems that will be deployed in the close vicinity of volcanoes. These devices will be made from advanced and harsh-resistant metal oxide (MOX) nanomaterials and will be based on an unexplored dynamic mode (DM) of operation. In opposition to the so-far reported DM systems, based on temperature pulsing, here we propose to use light cycled operation (LCO), in which a single low-power pulsed light-emitting diode photoactivates the MOX, which provides the different gas response patterns required for the correct gas discrimination. This constitutes an electronic-nose and dramatically reduces the number of sensors and power consumption required for gas discrimination. The developed devices will be tested towards gases typically emitted by volcanoes and will be benchmarked against reference measuring systems.
The ER has only completed slightly above one full year of the MSCA because he obtained an Associate Professor position (Universitetslektor) at Linköping University (LiU) and discontinued the current project. During the 14 months of MSCA, the ER has completed most of the goals intended for this period, with some exceptions and some additions, and what is remarkable: has quickly set the foundations for the first long-term goal: to establish an independent research team at an EU institution, by acquiring a permanent position at LiU. Within the VolcanAI project, the ER has developed advanced gas sensor systems, and these were tested against gases present in volcanic environments.
The ER has found and established reproducible methodologies and parameters to grow the intended and other nanomaterials never fabricated in the facilities of University of Barcelona before, integrated them into micropatterned chips, and used them to fabricate gas sensors. The ER characterized morphologically, structurally, chemically, optically, and electrically the synthesized nanomaterials. The ER designed, tested, and mounted a printed circuit board integrated in the sensor platform to safely power light emitting diodes and, thus allow the photoactivation of the fabricated sensing materials. He also renovated the gas mixing system with new customized gas measuring chambers and calibrated and integrated a safety system to ensure that no leakage of the toxic gases occurred during the gas sensing experiments related to volcanic gases (SO2 and H2S). Finally, he studied the gas response of the fabricated sensing materials towards gases of interest for volcanic environments (CO, CH4, CO2, SO2, H2S, and H2O). Surprisingly, one of the results obtained is that the sensors that can detect certain gases at room temperature, which is not common with this type of materials and could be of great benefit for the future of gas sensing.
The ER has found and established reproducible methodologies and parameters to grow the intended and other nanomaterials never fabricated in the facilities of University of Barcelona before, integrated them into micropatterned chips, and used them to fabricate gas sensors. The ER characterized morphologically, structurally, chemically, optically, and electrically the synthesized nanomaterials. The ER designed, tested, and mounted a printed circuit board integrated in the sensor platform to safely power light emitting diodes and, thus allow the photoactivation of the fabricated sensing materials. He also renovated the gas mixing system with new customized gas measuring chambers and calibrated and integrated a safety system to ensure that no leakage of the toxic gases occurred during the gas sensing experiments related to volcanic gases (SO2 and H2S). Finally, he studied the gas response of the fabricated sensing materials towards gases of interest for volcanic environments (CO, CH4, CO2, SO2, H2S, and H2O). Surprisingly, one of the results obtained is that the sensors that can detect certain gases at room temperature, which is not common with this type of materials and could be of great benefit for the future of gas sensing.
The sensor architecture and particular nanomaterial combination selected allow to detect certain gases among the ones of interest (CO, CH4, CO2, SO2, H2S, and H2O) without photo- or thermal- activation, which is not common for metal oxide-based sensors and could have broader impact than for volcanic emissions surveillance in the field of air quality monitoring.