Abstract-In the medical community, there is a considerable interest in a diagnostic breath analyzer for ammonia that is selectively enough to measure in exhaled air and small enough for the small volumes available in such an application. An indirect measurement system for low gaseous ammonia concentrations has been miniaturized and integrated on a chip in order to reach this goal. The detection limit of the system was calculated to be 1.1 parts per billion (ppb). The response time was determined to be 1.6 min with a gas flow of 50 ml/min. The required gas volume for one measurement is therefore sufficiently small, although sampling assistance is required for breath analysis. The selectivity of the system is sufficient to measure ammonia concentrations in the low-ppb range. The system is even sufficiently selective to be used in environments that contain elevated carbon dioxide levels, like exhaled air. The lower ammonia concentration expected in diagnostic breath analysis applications, 50 ppb, was demonstrated to be detectable.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.