Scientists at Queen's University Belfast are developing new
sensors to detect chemical agents and illegal drugs which will help in the
fight against the threat of terrorist attacks.
The devices will use special gel pads to 'swipe' an
individual or crime scene to gather a sample which is then analyzed by a
scanning instrument that can detect the presence of chemicals within seconds.
This will allow better, faster decisions to be made in response to terrorist
threats.
The scanning instrument will use Raman spectroscopy which
involves shining a laser beam onto the suspected sample and measuring the
energy of light that scatters from it to determine what chemical compound is
present. It is so sophisticated it can measure particles of a miniscule scale
making detection faster and more accurate.
Normally this type of spectroscopy is not sensitive enough
to detect low concentrations of chemicals, so here the sample is mixed with
nanoscale silver particles which amplify the signals of compounds allowing even
the smallest trace to be detected.
Dr Steven Bell from Queen's University Belfast who is
leading the research said:
"Although we are still in the middle of the project we
have finished much of the preliminary work and are now at the exciting stage
where we put the various strands together to produce the integrated sensor
device. For the future, we hope to be able to capitalise on this research and
expand the range of chemicals and drugs which these sensors are able to
detect."
It is hoped the new sensors will also be the basis for
developing 'breathalyzer' instruments that could be of particular use for
roadside drugs testing in much the same way as the police take breathalyzer
samples to detect alcohol.
At present, police officers are only able to use a Field Impairment
Test to determine if a person is driving under the influence of drugs. The
accuracy of this method has been questioned because of concerns that it is easy
to cheat.
To ensure the technology is relevant, senior staff members
from FSNI (Forensic Science Northern Ireland) will give significant
input into the operational aspects of the technology and give feedback as to
how it might be used in practice by the wider user community.
Stan Brown, Chief Executive of FSNI said:
"We consider the work being carried out by researchers
at Queen's University extremely important and potentially very useful in
driving forward the effectiveness, efficiency and speed of forensic science
practice. The combination of leading edge research and hands-on experience of
FSNI's practitioners has already proven very fruitful and is likely to lead to
significant developments in forensic methodologies across a range of
specialisms."
In the future this technology could have a number of
important applications and according to Dr Bell: "There are numerous
areas, from medical diagnostics to environmental monitoring, where the ability
to use simple field tests to detect traces of important indicator compounds
would be invaluable."
The research is being led by Dr Steven Bell of the School of Chemistry
and Chemical Engineering at Queen's University
of Belfast in collaboration with
colleagues from the School of Pharmacy at Queen's University and Forensic Science
Northern Ireland.
Since 1999 this collaboration has been focused on developing
new Raman and SERS methods for analysis of illicit drugs, paints, fibers,
materials and other physical evidence. It has already led to routine use of
Raman methods within FSNI laboratories for drugs intelligence and a more
extensive program for integrating Raman methods into a broad range of casework
is already underway. This new project will take the next step and move this
research out of the laboratory and into the field.
Original
article
SOURCE: Engineering and
Physical Sciences Research Council