Volatile organic compound sensing in breath using conducting polymer coated chemi-resistive filter paper sensors

AbstractIn this work, a disposable sensor array was designed based on the chemi-resistive behavior of the conducting polymers to detect three volatile organic compounds (VOCs), i.e., acetone, ethanol, and methanol in air and breath. Four disposable resistive sensors were designed by coating polypyrrole and polyaniline (in their doped and de-doped forms) on filter paper substrates and tested against VOCs in air. Change in conductivity of the polymer resulting from exposure to various VOC concentration was measured as percentage resistance change using a standard multimeter. The lowest concentration detected for acetone, ethanol, and methanol vapors was 400  ppb, 150 ppb, and 300 ppb, respectively within 2 min. These VOC-responsive sensors, housed in an indigenous inert chamber, showed good stability, repeatability, and reversibility while sensing, thus making it suitable for environmental pollutant detection at room temperature. Furthermore, the n on-specific nature of these easy to fabricate sensors towards all VOCs is considered favorable and upon classifying with principal component analysis (PCA), the gases were qualitatively distinguished in separate clusters. These developed sensors were also tested and analyzed using VOC spiked real br eath samples as proof of concept.Graphical Abstract
Source: Medical and Biological Engineering and Computing - Category: Biomedical Engineering Source Type: research