Apparatus for rapid and specific detection of organic vapors

A system for detecting trace amounts of organic vapours in a sample of air, comprising:

• a ) a preconcentrator-desorber for preconcentrating and desorbing said trace amounts of organic vapours from said sample of air, said preconcentrator-desorber including a metallic substrate, a film of fullerenes deposited on said metallic substrate for adsorbing said organic vapours on said film of fullerenes, thereby preconcentrating said organic vapours, and means for heating said metallic substrate to a predetermined temperature for desorbing said vapours from said film of fullerenes to form desorbed organic vapours for subsequent detection;
• c) a first pump and a second pump, each for drawing air into said system;
• d) a source of carrier gas;
• e) a valve having a first input connected to said preconcentrator-desorber, a second input connected to said source of carrier gas, a first output connected to said first pump and a second output connected to said second pump, for selectively (i) directing said sample of air through said preconcentrator-desorber to form said preconcentrated and then desorbed organic vapours, and (ii) directing a combination of said carrier gas and said desorbed organic vapours along a path of flow created by said second pump;
• and
• f) a detector in said path of flow created by said second pump for detecting said trace amounts of said organic vapours contained in said combination of said carrier gas and said desorbed organic vapours.