Detecting explosives had been a major problem for bomb disposal squad for a long time but now to surmount the common problems of detecting explosives by losing their glow, Ling Zang and his colleagues from Southern Illinois University at the University of Illinois based at Urbana-Champaign with the Chinese Academy of Sciences have come up with the new system. If we consider present scenario to detect explosives it is totally based on technique known as ion mobility spectrometry (IMS) with which explosive compounds pass down a length of tubing where they are ionized by a strong electric field whose distinctive drift speed plus ‘kinetic signature’ of each molecule permit the sensor to distinguish between compounds with different mobilities. Now to overcome present technique barriers to detect explosives, this new generation sensor material that is a fluorescent film and which is made of nanofibrils(carbon nanotubes predominantly having diameters substantially less than about 200 nm.) can sense the presence of vapors from TNT and from other related explosives compound with greater efficiency than existing materials. The tests reveal that the material was able to recover its capability to fluoresce after initially losing its fluorescence while sensing the explosive compounds. These preceding nanotubes or nanofibrils are grown in aggregates and encompasses a macroscopic morphology of either bundles of relatively straight tubules, cotton candy (‘CC’), or approximately spherical aggregates of highly intertwining, curved tubulesresembling bird nests (‘BN’), or mishmash of these. This new innovation uses essentially amorphous cellulose nanofibrils equipped with a crystallinity index not more than 50 % as emulsifying and/or stabilizing agent in dispersion. It is also noteworthy that these nanofibrils can also be used in the form of an aqueous suspension or in dispersible dry form. Via: Softpedia