Descripción del proyecto
Nitrogen oxides are a family of nitrogen-oxygen compounds designated generally as NOx, with the most representative being the monoxide, NO and the dioxide, NO2, These gasses are generated mostly by human activities, with the main source being vehicles with internal combustion engines, accounting for half of the human-generated NOx contamination,NO and NO2 are highly reactive and when getting in contact with other substances generate a number of other harmful substances, such as nitric acid, ozone, nitrosamines, free radicals, etc, The concentration of many of them in the air is proved to be correlated with mutagenicity and with lung and cardiovascular disease occurrence, In addition, nitric acid causes acid rain, affecting the equilibrium of ecosystems and crops, harming buildings, etc,For all these reasons, environmental legislation concerning these harmful gasses is increasingly restrictive, especially in what concerns vehicle emissions, Thus, every 4 or 5 years, European regulations on harmful emissions have been object of considerable reduction of the maximum allowed quantity of NOx,So far, there has been no need to measure NOx in exhaust gasses, but growing environmental consciousness, accompanied by toughening regulations make urgent the necessity for developing specific sensors for this purpose, Several large companies have been developing electrochemical sensors for at least one decade, and recently some of them have even started their commercialization, Their interest in this type of sensor is chiefly due to the fact that it allows them to employ the same technology and materials as the lambda sensor, which they already manufacture and which is currently accepted as the standard for engine combustion control,However, these sensors present low selectivity and their sensitivity is of the order of 10 ppm, while typical concentration of these substances in the exhaust is of the order of 5-200 ppm depending on motors operation regime, These limitations are intrinsic to operation principle and therefore a quantitative leap in their development is not expected in the foreseeable future,The most precise and selective measurement system currently on the market is the chemiluminescent one, with a typical precision of the order of 0,5-1 ppb and even reaching ppt, However, these are expensive and bulky and although they are used for testing cars, they cannot be integrated in their construction,The purpose of the present project is to develop a chemiluminescent microanalyzer by miniaturizing the existing technology, in order to meet the requirements for integration in automotive exhaust systems, The project is aligned with the Sustainable, intelligent and integrated transport challenge, and particularly with its sub-challenge Development of new technologies for reducing the environmental impact of transport means and systems, and environmental and noise pollution both included in the State plan for scientific and technical research and innovation,The proposed novel design is based on a series of advanced technologies such as multilayer technology, microfluidics, microelectronics and photonics which are form part of the Key Enabling Technologies defined by the Horizon 2020 program of the EU, Even though the device will be designed for its implementation in vehicles, it should be easily adaptable to any other system, making the control of NOx much cheaper, accessible and generalized, Moreover, it could be easily modified for the detection of NH3 y SO2 among others, by their conversion to NO and SO respectively,