Chemical detective

A hand-held near infrared (NIR) chemical detector for use in security, environmental monitoring and forensics is being developed by Welsh company

and Surrey University's

(ATI).

By miniaturising NIR technology and using a database of spectrums, the device can identify the chemical content of a substance within a few seconds on a 'point, click, read' basis.

Held about an inch away from a sample, the torch-like device shines a light for a couple of seconds and a spectrometer analyses the light reflected by the sample. Each organic chemical has a unique spectrum 'fingerprint' and the device uses these to identify the content of a sample by comparing the spectrum it receives with the 'fingerprints' held on the database.

'The device employs advanced chemometrics using multivariant analysis to determine which spectrums are present,' said ZiNIR director Tracy Nuttall. 'The device screen will then tell you exactly which chemicals — and to which concentrations — it has found within the mixture.'