The prototype does not look anything like a mobile phone yet; it is quite big and would not fit in a pocket. But it already has a processor, Bluetooth, GPS and touchscreen. ‘We met many people there who really needed it and were a little disappointed that we didn’t have the product ready yet,’ says Raivo Jaaniso, head of the laboratory and a senior research fellow at the University of Tartu. But big breakthroughs always require time and the project is halfway complete, with plenty of work and experimenting ahead for the next four years.
The gas-smelling sensor, the working principles of which resemble the human nose, has been developed in the framework of the ten-year technology partnership “Graphene Flagship”, established by the European Commission in 2013. This means that the know-how of 150 partners is combined, including universities and the electronics industry.
‘There are more than ten different work packages and topics in the project and we participate in the sensor work package,’ explains Jaaniso. Various project partners have their special expertise. While one group is developing pressure sensors, the others are trying to find other materials for creating gas sensors. ‘Cooperation is very important and the strength of the project is that we also work with other packages that develop, for example, graphene synthesis,’ says the researcher. On a broader level, the work package contributes to the health, medicine, and sensor divisions of the Flagship.
The Tartu group’s expertise lies in gas sensors. Their latest prototype already allows researchers to start experimenting with the sensor on the street level and not just in the lab. ‘We can make it weatherproof and put it on the arm, bag or bike and then you get the results from the street. Test results from a real environment are very important because there are probably new things and issues that need to be addressed and solved,’ Jaaniso says.