John Saffell Biography
John Saffell received his BSc in Chemistry and MSc from MIT in 1975 and his PhD in Materials Science (focused on polymer physics) from the University of Cambridge in 1979.
He founded Solomat in 1979 with his partner, Jean-Pierre Ibar, developing air and water quality instrumentation. Developments included the Thermal Stimulated Current spectrometer (TSC) for analysing complex material phase transitions, the first patented modular water/air quality instrumentation (MPM), and water quality sondes. Solomat was sold in 1993 to Neotronics, where John became the Research Director. There, he worked in the gas detection safety industry on electrochemical toxic, oxygen, and explosive gas sensors, as well as the first commercial electronic nose and quaternary mid-IR LEDs.
In 1996, Paul Gotley, the Neotronics Chairman, decided to sell Neotronics. He, his daughter Andrea, and John founded Alphasense in 1997, where John served as Technical Director/CTO until the company was sold to AMETEK in 2021.
A 1994 dinner conversation about air quality between Professor Rod Jones and John at Queens’ College led John to focus the Alphasense Technical Group on developing four-electrode ppb electrochemical and metal oxide gas sensors, along with an optical particle counter. This added a new family of sensors to the Alphasense product line – the first low-cost air quality sensor family. The Cambridge University Atmospheric Chemistry group and Alphasense collaborated closely for 18 years as sensor performance improved and key IP was developed, such as NO2
filters and low-hydrogen-sensitivity CO sensors. Cambridge validated sensor performance while Rod Jones’ group deployed, analysed, and published the results of low-cost sensor networks across Cambridge, Heathrow, and London (Breathe London).
John and Professor Lisa Hall CBE co-founded NosmoTech Ltd. in 2022. John develops instrumentation to monitor the built environment, while Lisa works in analytical biotechnology, currently pursuing low-cost viral diagnostics for low-income countries.
John is Chairman of the Council for Gas Detection and Environmental Monitoring (CoGDEM) and is a member of ASTM, ISO, and CEN standards committees for air quality. Current air quality challenges he focuses on are VOC speciation and affordable UFP monitors.
Companies using Alphasense gas and dust monitors:
- QuantAQ
- Kunak
- Libelium
- TSI
