The GraFET team (L-R): Stuart Murray, Wenbo Cui, Eric Beauregard and Laura Bahlmann.
Congratulations to fourth-year University of Waterloo nanotechnology engineering students Laura Bahlmann, Eric Beauregard, Wenbo Cui and Stuart Murray for their achievements at the recent Ontario Engineering Competition, held at the University of Waterloo January 29-31, 2016.
Their entry, a graphene based nano-electronic harmful gas sensor, earned a Technical Excellence Award and a second place finish in the Innovative Design competition, in which competitors presented new technological designs to improve upon existing ones.
The sensor, called the GraFET, uses a graphene based transistor and a dipole detection method to quickly detect toxic gases. A network of individual sensors, incorporated into smartphones or wearable electronics, could communicate with each other in real time to create a dynamic air quality map.
The GraFET team will compete again at the Canadian Engineering Competition, to be held at McGill University from March 3 to 6, 2016.