Trace amount formaldehyde gas detection for indoor air quality monitoring

Abstract

The material in this document is covered by the provisions of the Copyright Act, by Canadian laws, policies, regulations and international agreements. Such provisions serve to identify the information source and, in specific instances, to prohibit reproduction of materials without written permission. For more information visit http://laws.justice.gc.ca/en/showtdm/cs/C-42Les renseignements dans ce document sont protégés par la Loi sur le droit d'auteur, par les lois, les politiques et les règlements du Canada et des accords internationaux. Ces dispositions permettent d'identifier la source de l'information et, dans certains cas, d'interdire la copie de documents sans permission écrite. Pour obtenir de plus amples renseignements : http://lois.justice.gc.ca/fr/showtdm/cs/C-42 ). This is a low concentration that commercially available formaldehyde sensors have great difficulty to detect both accurately and continuously. In this paper, we report a formaldehyde gas detection system which is capable of pre-concentrating formaldehyde gas using absorbent, and subsequently thermally desorbing the concentrated gas for detection by the electrochemical sensor. Initial results show that the system is able to detect formaldehyde gas at the ppb level, thus making it feasible to detect trace amount of formaldehyde in indoor environments.

Graphene Thermal Infrared Emitters Integrated into Silicon Photonic Waveguides

“…The demand for distributed, networked, and compact gas sensors − for real-time air quality monitoring is rapidly increasing in a wide range of applications such as demand-controlled ventilation in heating and air conditioning (HVAC) systems, , gas leak detection, industrial process control, , environmental monitoring − and medical diagnostics . Typical gas sensing methods are often based on chemical reaction sensors such as catalytic beads or electrochemical and semiconducting metal oxides. , In these types of sensors, the targeted gas undergoes a chemical reaction with the sensor material and thus alters the sensor itself.…”

Determination of formaldehyde in indoor air by active and passive sampling methods

“…">IntroductionFormaldehyde (HCHO, methanal, formic aldehyde) is a ubiquitous indoor air pollutant that is categorized as a strong irritant, potentially cancer-causing, and leukemic substance by both the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) and the U.S. National Toxicology Program (US NTP). Most people can experience eye irritation, nose/throat irritation, headaches, and skin rash even at low doses (about 0.3 ppm formaldehyde in the air), but some sensitive individuals may be able to perceive formaldehyde at concentrations as low as 0.1 ppm [1][2][3]. Despite being a potentially harmful substance to health, formaldehyde is still used in a variety of household products, including building materials like particleboard, plywood, fibreboard, and urea-formaldehyde foam insulation; textiles; household cleaning items like detergents, disinfectants, softeners, and shoe products; cosmetics like liquid soaps, shampoos, and nail varnishes and hardeners; glues, adhesives, and other consumer goods like insecticides and incense [3][4][5][6].…”