Merel Lefferts
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I’ve always been interested in combining physics and chemistry, and in the area of small scale phenomena where physics and chemistry meet. I did my undergraduate at University College Utrecht (Utrecht University, the Netherlands), where I focussed on physics and chemistry. I then did a masters in the physics of nanomaterials at Utrecht University (the Netherlands). After my masters I moved to Oxford to do a DPhil in materials. This is when I started working on vapour sensors. For this research we use a combination of concepts and methods from physics, chemistry, and materials science to develop very small, very sensitive sensors to detect a range of different vapours.
Can we make a sensor that can match a sniffer dog?
When it comes to sensing potentially-dangerous vapours, sniffer dogs are still considered the gold standard. In this animation we learn about chemiresistive sensors, a new type of sensor that may be able to match the noses of our furry friends.
