Todd Cowen

VOC sensors

Molecularly imprinted polymers can be used to identify and quantify volatile organic compounds (VOCs).

Volatile organic compounds

Life produces an abundance of small organic molecules. Some of these molecules are sufficiently volatile to be emitted as vapor, mixing with the surrounding air. Many organisms produce these volatile organic compounds (VOCs) as specific signals, in a form of direct chemical-based communication. In other cases the VOCs are a simple by-product, but are indicative of the state of the organism.

Molecularly imprinted polymers can be designed to bind these VOCs selectively, in a manner than it extremely difficult with any other technology. This could lead the way for a new paradigm in analytical chemistry, based on the scent of different materials.

Some foundational work from the group

  • MIMO microwave sensor for selective and simultaneous detection of methanol and ethanol gases at room temperature — M.M .Hasan, T. Cowen, O. Alev, M. Cheffena, IEEE Transactions on Instrumentation and Measurement, 2025, 9511613 https://doi.org/10.1109/TIM.2025.3551791
  • Highly selective ethanol vapour sensing materials for a new generation of gas sensors based on molecularly imprinted polymers —T. Cowen, S. Grammatikos, M. Cheffena Talanta, 2025, 281, 126902, 2025 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.talanta.2024.126902
  • A novel molecularly imprinted polymer-based carbon nanotube-coated microwave sensor for selective detection of methanol gas — Mohammad Mahmudul Hasan, Todd Cowen, Michael Cheffena, IEEE Sensors Letters, 8, 1-4 https://doi.org/10.1109/LSENS.2024.3387323
  • Molecularly imprinted polymer nanoparticle-carbon nanotube composite electrochemical gas sensor for highly selective and sensitive detection of methanol vapour — T. Cowen, S. Grammatikos, M. Cheffena, Analyst, 2024, 149, 2428-2435 https://doi.org/10.1039/D4AN00045E
  • Molecularly Imprinted Polymer Real-Time Gas Sensor for Ambient Methanol Vapor Analysis Developed Using Principles of Sustainable Chemistry — T. Cowen, M. Cheffena, ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering, 2023, 11, 10598-10604 https://doi.org/10.1021/acssuschemeng.3c02266
  • Molecularly Imprinted Polymer Based Antenna Sensor for Methanol Vapor Sensing — K. Hossain, T. Cowen, M. Cheffena, IEEE Microwave and Wireless Technology Letters, 2023 https://doi.org/10.1109/LMWT.2023.3286911
  • Template Imprinting Versus Porogen Imprinting of Small Molecules: A Review of Molecularly Imprinted Polymers in Gas Sensing — T. Cowen, M. Cheffena, International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 2022, 23, 9642 https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms23179642