Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Polymer Research
Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Polymer Research

Smart card system for on-site detection of mould spores

Mould growth, which is usually caused by increased humidity, is a fundamental problem for people as well as for the affected rooms and buildings. The SchimmelCard project is tackling this problem by developing, designing and integrating a sensor technology that enables mould growth to be detected at an early stage - without the need for an additional analysis step.

SchimmelCard - Demonstrator

Technical demand:

  • Mould fungi are part of our lives
  • Mould fungi can cause considerable damage to health
  • Building insulation requires more ventilation
  • Energy savings lead to a reduction in temperature
  • Temperature and humidity reach critical levels

 

Scientific-technical solution:

  • Mould-binding recognition elements as detection probes
  • Chemical indicator - activity of the enzyme ß-D-glucosidase
  • Selective growth layer with electrode-based signal amplification layer
  • Metabolic activity leads to a change in the pH value - change in resistance
  • Simple self-sufficient evaluation electronics
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  • Mould fungi are part of our living environment and their spores are therefore also present in all indoor spaces. However, mould infestation caused by the growth of mould fungi indoors due to increased moisture poses a hygiene and health problem, especially as different species sometimes dominate in buildings than in the natural environment.

    The aim is to detect the formation of mould at an early stage without an additional analysis step. This offers a decisive advantage over established systems in terms of recognising the danger at a very early stage. This is where the greatest innovation potential of this development lies. The proposed solution aims to find out how mould growth can be detected using a simple detection mechanism and how it can be integrated into a system. In the proposed project, the individual functional components are to be combined on a polymer carrier (the size of a smart card).

    Until now, mould detection systems have only recorded the temperature, humidity and monitored the dew point without directly detecting mould growth. The great advantage of direct mould detection is that the previous biohygrothermal growth models, which require the sufficient presence of mould spores, are no longer required. The existing systems do not work independently and are comparatively very expensive.

  • A method for performing homogeneous competitive immunoassay formats with electrochemical detection in solution, characterized in that two different conjugates as reagents are combined with the sample or a sample/buffer mixture, one conjugat comprising a redox marker and an analyte molecule and the second conjugate comprising an anti-redox marker antibody or a specifically binding fragment thereof and a molecule specifically binding the analyte.

    EP 2 390 664 B1

    US 8 945 852 B2

  • Funding

    This project is funded as part of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft's internal programmes.