Spray-On Explosive Detector
William Trogler and his team at the University of California, San Diego, made a silafluorene-fluorene copolymer to identify nitrogen-containing explosives. It is the first of its kind to act as a switchable sensor with picogram (10-15g) detection limits, and is reported in the Royal Society of Chemistry’s Journal of Materials Chemistry.
Trogler’s polymer can detect explosives at much lower levels than existing systems because it detects particles instead of explosive vapours. In the team’s new method one simply sprays the polymer solution over the test area, let it dry, and shine UV light on it. Spots of explosive quench the fluorescent polymer and turn blue….
R. • May 28, 2008 12:53 PM
If those get deployed at airports someone will put a bucket of fine powdered nitrates in the back of a truck and drive along the roads towards the local airport.
The trailing cloud will contaminate enough passengers…