BRIEFING No.

11

SECURITY NANOSENSORS FOR EXPLOSIVE DETECTION

ObservatoryNANO Briefing February 2011

The spread of terrorist events over the globe in the last decade has emphasised the importance of detecting concealed explosives and led to calls for new advanced technologies to protect the public. Be cause most explosives release little vapour, it is not possible to de tect them effectively by methods widely used on other chemicals. Detecting explosives is a very complex and costly task because of a number of factors, such as the wide variety of compounds that can be used as explosives, the vast number of deployment means, and the lack of inexpensive sensors providing high sensitiv ity and selectivity simultaneously. High sensitivity and selectivity, combined with the ability to lower the production and deployment costs of sensors, is essential in winning the battle on ex plosivesbased terrorism. Nanotechnology based sensors have strong potential for meeting all the requirements for an effective solution for the trace detection of explosives. This BRIEFING outlines the social and economical relevance of nanoenabled technologies for the detection of explosives in security applications, provides background information on the technology, and highlights further chal lenges to be addressed. The need for explosive detection
The use of explosives by terrorist organisations has increased dramatically in recent years. In 2009 4350 of a total of 10999 terrorist attacks were un dertaken using explosives. Over 10000 people were killed worldwide and more than 20000 were injured as a result of these attacks. The number of suicide bombings has increased by approximately 50% since 2005 1. Explosive devices such as conventional bombs, grenades or Improvised Explosive Devices (IED) are one of the most common weapons both in military conflicts and terrorist attacks. For terrorist organi sations and insurgents, the IED has become a weapon of choice. These devices are being used to kill or harm civilians and military personnel as well as destroying vital infrastructure and assets. They are easily detonated from remote locations or by suicide bombers. As they can take different forms and be delivered to their targets in a variety of ways, these devices are proving difficult to detect. Efficient detection of hidden explosives and their components in luggage, mail, vehicles, aircraft, as well as on suspects is the grand challenge for law enforcement agencies throughout the world. Tracebased explosives detection systems cur rently in use have limitations in selectivity, sensitiv ity, size, and certainly cost. Miniaturisation of sys tems to bench top or even handheld levels has great potential, especially for trace explosive de tection. Recent advances in nanomaterial research provided a strong potential to create sensors for detecting explosives providing sensitivity at the single molecule level.

Nanoenabled technologies for explosives va pour detection

The research and development studies in the area of nanomaterials have demonstrated the ability of nanostructures to function as sensors of various chemical and biological compounds including ex plosives. Ultrasmall devices with high sensing ca pabilities are among the key promises of the nanosensor domain2. Electronic noses, nanowire/ nanotube and nanomechanical devices are nanosensor concepts with the strongest potential to form viable technological platforms for trace explosive detection.

Figure 1: Electronic nose concept At present, dogs have been trained and used suc cessfully for sniffing out hidden explosives; how ever, dogs are expensive to train and are easily tired. The electronic nose technique can mimic the bombsniffing dogs without their drawbacks. An

SECURITY: NANOSENSORS FOR EXPLOSIVE DETECTION

electronic nose device is usually composed of a chemical sensing system, sampling system and a patternrecognition system, such as an artificial neural network (Figure 1). Nanomechanical effects induced by molecular ad sorption offer unprecedented opportunities for trace explosive detection. Nanomechanical sen sors such as cantilever beams have many modes of operation4. For example, when explosive mole cules bind to the detection molecules on the canti lever made in nanostructured silicon , this will in duce a surface stress and the cantilever will bend (Figure 3). Differential adsorption is obtained by immobilising a selective layer on one side of the cantilever. Nanocantilevers are expected to pro vide ultrahighsensitivity mass detection, ulti mately approaching the singlemolecule level5.

ObservatoryNANO Briefing February 2011

The sensing system consists of an array of sensors, with each sensor in the array giving a different electrical response for a particular target vapour introduced into the sensing chamber. The com bined output from the sensor array forms a finger print, or signature, that is unique for a particular odour. Pattern recognition techniques based on principal component analysis and artificial neural networks were developed for learning different chemical signatures.

Impacts
Impact on European Citizen The deployment of new security technologies based on novel nano enabled explosive detection devices will serve to better protect European citi zens against further acts of terrorism. However, there are some health hazards considerations as sociated with subjecting passengers to some types of screening technologies currently used for explo sive detection. For example, certain types of explo sive detection screening equipment may expose individuals to mild radiation. The use of explosive detection systems based on nanosensors will help to reduce the above mentioned implications posed by existing scanning equipment. Economic/Industry Though nanotechnology is also implied in some screening technologies (e.g. Xrays, IR), the really promising and developing sector is that of nano enabled sensors, which will provide advanced sen sitivity and selectivity of explosive detection sys tems and does not seem to present the issues in duced by screening. Several drivers, primarily stemming from new regulations to address the threat of terrorism, drive the expansion of markets for explosive detec tion equipment. The direct economic impact of nanotechnology sensors for explosive detection can be seen in the formation of new companies to exploit these technologies (such as Owlstone Nanotech and Xsense). Assuming commercialisa tion challenges can be overcome, the greater ef fectiveness of nanotechnologybased approaches is likely to see them gain a market share from tra ditional approaches, whilst lower costs open up new application areas. There is strong dual use potential, besides security applications in person and possession controls in public places, most nano enabled systems also have potential to be used for industrial process control in production of explosives and for

Figure 2: Illustration of nanowires sensor plat form. Nanostructures such as carbon and organic nano tubes (NT), nanowires and nanotubes have a very high surface area to volume ratio and unique elec trical and optical properties that can be exploited for highly sensitive molecular adsorption detec tion. For instance (Figure 2), electrical conductivity in a nanotube changes drastically due to interact ing with molecules of an explosive analyte, as a result of highly selective adsorption3.

Figure 3: Molecular adsorption induced bending a cantilever.

SECURITY: NANOSENSORS FOR EXPLOSIVE DETECTION

explosive gas monitoring in mining industry. The deployment of nano enabled explosive detec tion systems will add to the indirect economic im pact, in which reducing the incidence of terror at tacks also reduces direct social and economic im pacts, such as disruptions to world trade. tourist attractions; 2) explosives detection tech nologies should be just a component of a layered approach to security, where multiple security measures are combined to form the overall secu rity environment; 3) cost and potential legal impli cations have to be important policy considerations when determining whether and how to use these technologies.

ObservatoryNANO Briefing February 2011

Technology readiness levels

Health & Safety

Environment, Health & Safety aspects of nanosen sors for explosive detection have been considered by the ObservatoryNano7. Nanomaterials included in these technologies are generally bound to a sub strate in which they are used in very small amounts per sensor. They are unlikely to be re leased during normal use of the applica tions. While exposure to nanomaterials can occur during the manufacturing stage especially if un bound/free nanoparticles are handled, it is how ever unlikely that human or environmental expo sure would occur during use of the nanotechnol ogy based sensors. Figure 4: TRL for nanoenabled sensor technologies for detection of explosives.

EU Competitive Position
Governments in all regions of the world have now realised the significance of the threats posed by illicit use of explosives and responded by increas ing support of R&D activities aimed to significantly improve the explosive detection capability to pre vent and respond to existing and potential threats. In 2008 the EU Council has adopted the EU Action Plan on Enhancing the Security of Explosives. The Action Plan8 is built on three pillars, prevention, detection and response, containing specific meas ures on explosive precursors, the supply chain (storage, transport, traceability) and detection. A set of 48 specific horizontal actions, along with deadlines for their implementation concerning public security, complements and consolidates the three pillars. Funding is made available for meas ures falling under the Action Plan by way of two programmes: the Prevention of and Fight against Crime programme9 and the 7th Framework Re search Programme. Our analysis of publications and patents and quali tative responses from experts have shown that EU research is complementary to the US for chemical and explosives detection. The experts have also agreed that although Europe has existing sensor deployment for explosives de tection relatively better than other world regions it lacks the appropriate level of support for technol ogy transfer required for future leadership. The measures included in the Action Plan, in particular,

Challenges
Most of existing technologies that utilise nanowires and nanotubes in the fabrication of sen sors have fallen short of controlling the growth of the nanoparticles of a given size with minimal de fects and the capability to manipulate and align these nanowires based on the application. Also, the characterisation of the material properties as a part of the device remains mainly unaddressed by current technologies6 . Challenges to unlock the potential of the electronic nose technology for viable explosive detection ap plications relate to providing stability, sampling and reliable calibration and identification of pat terns in complex changing backgrounds. Combin ing nanosensors with advances in conventional detection platforms (e.g. electronic nose concept) seems to be the most promising approach for the development of advanced solutions. In addition to technical challenges for developing novel nano enabled detection methods there are several overarching operational and policy consid erations impacting the deployment of these tech nologies for protecting public from terrorism threats. Specifically, 1) the roles and responsibili ties of multiple national, local and private stake holders could impact how explosive detection technologies are funded and implemented in pub lic places such as, for example, transport hubs and

SECURITY: NANOSENSORS FOR EXPLOSIVE DETECTION

funding research and industry collaboration under the FP7 and national programmes constitute a part of the EU response to this issue. Examples of EU funded collaborative projects for the development of nano enabled technologies include: 10 HAMLeT (PASR , 0.32M 200608), GUARDED (JIPFP, 3.5M, 200811), DOTSENSE (FP7, 1.9M, 200811), OPTIX (FP7, 3.3M, 200812), S3 (FP7, 2.14M, 200912), PREVAIL (FP7, 4.3M, 201013), COMMONSENSE (FP7, 4.77M, 201113). Also, two European networks, CREATIF and NDE have been created to provide a communication platform for technology users and decision mak ers, providers and testers to discuss the future de velopment of testing and to support user decisions and product / service development.

Contact Information
Technical: Dr Sergey Gordeyev, Institute of Nanotechnology, [email protected] Economic: Tom Crawley, Spinverse, [email protected]

ObservatoryNANO Briefing February 2011

References
L. Senesac, T.G.Thundat, Nanosensors for trace explo sive detection, Materials Today, 11(2008), n.3 , p.28; 2009 NCTC Report on Terrorism, National Counterter rorism Centre, www.nctc.gov/witsbanner/docs; Yoni Engel, et al, Supersensitive Detection of Explo sives by Silicon Nanowire Arrays, Angewandte Chemie International Edition, Volume 49, Issue 38, pages 6830 6835, September 10, 2010; H.P. Lang et al, Nanomecahnical cantilever array sen sors, in Handbook of Nanotechnology, Springer, pp. 427452 (2010); Cantilever Sensor Platforms: Measuring with Nanome chanical Sensors (http://www.concentris.com/ index.php?id=2); R. Lareau, Next generation trace explosives detection systems: sample collection and novel electronic sensors, NATO Science Series, II: Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry, 159 (Electronic Noses & Sensors for the De tection of Explosives), 2004, p. 289;
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Summary
The risk of a terrorist attack involving use of ex

plosives remains high in Europe. These attacks may cause severe consequences including hu man casualties, and widespread disruptions of critical infrastructures and public confidence. Nanoscale effects can be exploited to offer the possibility of sensors that satisfy all the require ments for explosives trace detection. High sensi tivity and selectivity, combined with the ability to lower the production and deployment costs of sensors, is essential in winning the battle on ex plosivesbased terrorism. Explosive detection with high sensitivity and se lectivity is a difficult challenge because of a num ber of operational factors, such as the acute shortage of explosive molecules that can be col lected in a reasonable time and lack of selectivity because of interference from other molecules. Recent advances in nanomaterials research pro vide good potential to create sensors for detect ing explosives providing sensitivity at the single molecule level. Also, due to reduced dimensions, nanomaterials offer capability of incorporating multiple sensors capable of detecting multiple threats simultaneously. The ability of nano enabled technologies to ef fectively detect explosives on people and their belongings, as well as the expectations of the public for openness and speed will likely be key drivers for their successful implementation. The direct economic impact of nanotechnology sensors for explosive detection can be seen in the formation of new companies to exploit these technologies.

P.G. Datskos, T. Thundat and N.V. Lavrik, Encyclopedia Nanosci. Nanotechnol. 10 (2004), p. 1;

ObservatoryNANO Security Report, http:// www.observatorynano.eu/project/catalogue/2SE/2/ dk2j0/

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ObservatoryNANO EHS security report, http:// www.observatorynano.eu/project/filesystem/files/ EHS%20analysis_TS_Security_Final_Jan11.pdf EU Action Plan on Enhancing the Security of Explo sives, 2008, http://register.consilium.europa.eu/pdf/ en/08/st08/st08311.en08.pdf ; Specific programme: Preventing and combating crime (20072013), http://europa.eu/legislation_summaries/ justice_freedom_security/ judicial_cooperation_in_criminal_matters/ l33263_en.htm; Preparatory Action for Security Research the initia tive of the European Commission to bridge Framework Programs VI and VII, with an estimated cost of 65 M was introduced in 2004.
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