New Delhi, July 14 (IANS) Indian scientists have developed an advanced ammonia sensing platform that detects harmful ammonia at extremely low concentrations while operating at room temperature, an official statement said on Tuesday.

The device was created at the Centre for Nano and Soft Matter Sciences (CeNS), Bengaluru, an autonomous institution of the Department of Science and Technology (DST).

Ammonia with wide application across sectors can cause severe irritation of the eyes, skin, and respiratory system on exposure, while prolonged exposure may lead to serious health complications.

This device addresses this challenge, through a newly-designed highly sensitive gas sensor based on a hybrid vanadium oxide-vanadium sulfide (VOx/VS2) heterostructure.

The sensor was engineered through a controlled surface transformation process that creates abundant active sites for ammonia adsorption while simultaneously enhancing charge transport within the sensing layer. This synergistic combination significantly improves sensing performance, enabling rapid and highly selective detection of ammonia under ambient conditions.

Flexible and wearable versions of the sensor were successfully fabricated on polymer, paper, and textile substrates.

These lightweight devices maintained sensing capability even under bending, twisting, and folding conditions, demonstrating their suitability for next-generation wearable electronics.

Prototype smart bands, smart-home warning systems, and electronic textile platforms were also developed to showcase potential applications in personal safety monitoring and intelligent environmental sensing.

Ammonia has uses in fertilizer production, refrigeration, chemical manufacturing, and agriculture. The sensor demonstrated detection down to 319 parts per billion, well below occupational safety limits.

It also exhibited excellent selectivity against other common gases, stable operation over repeated sensing cycles, long-term reliability exceeding ten weeks, and effective performance across a broad concentration range.

Unlike many conventional gas sensors that require elevated temperatures or external activation sources, the newly developed device operates efficiently at room temperature, reducing energy consumption and simplifying deployment.

A portable threshold-triggered monitoring system was developed to provide immediate alerts when ammonia concentrations exceed predefined safety levels. The device automatically classifies environmental conditions into safe, warning, and danger zones, allowing rapid interpretation and response without requiring technical expertise.

Such sensing devices can be deployed in industrial facilities, storage units, laboratories, and agricultural environments where ammonia leakage poses a significant risk, the statement noted.

—IANS

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