US 11,946,834 B1
High efficiency active environmental sampling of chemical traces
Ann Junghans, Los Alamos, NM (US); Eric Davis, Los Alamos, NM (US); Cristian Pantea, Los Alamos, NM (US); Rollin Lakis, Los Alamos, NM (US); and Vlad Henzl, Los Alamos, NM (US)
Assigned to TRIAD NATIONAL SECURITY, LLC, Los Alamos, NM (US)
Filed by Triad National Security, LLC, Los Alamos, NM (US)
Filed on Oct. 29, 2021, as Appl. No. 17/514,945.
Claims priority of provisional application 63/108,061, filed on Oct. 30, 2020.
Int. Cl. G01N 1/00 (2006.01); G01N 1/04 (2006.01); G01N 1/36 (2006.01); G01N 1/40 (2006.01); G01N 21/65 (2006.01); G01N 33/22 (2006.01); G01N 1/02 (2006.01)
CPC G01N 1/04 (2013.01) [G01N 1/36 (2013.01); G01N 1/4077 (2013.01); G01N 21/658 (2013.01); G01N 33/227 (2013.01); G01N 2001/028 (2013.01); G01N 2001/4094 (2013.01)] 18 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method comprising:
applying a rapidly curable liquid gel to a sampling surface, the rapidly curable liquid gel comprising one or more metal particles;
co-aggregating the one or more metal particles in the rapidly curable liquid gel and an analyte from the sampling surface by applying ultrasonic waves to the rapidly curable liquid gel and the sampling surface using a piezoelectric transducer;
curing the rapidly curable liquid gel to yield a sampling matrix including the analyte; and
removing the sampling matrix including the analyte from the sampling surface.