Array of Chemosensitive Resistors with Composites of Gas Chromatography (GC) Materials and Carbon Black for Detection and Recognition of VOCs: A Basic Study

Abstract

Mimicking the biological olfaction, large odor-sensor arrays can be used to acquire a broad range of chemical information, with a potentially high degree of redundancy, to allow for enhanced control over the sensitivity and selectivity of artificial olfaction systems. The arrays should consist of the largest possible number of individual sensing elements while being miniaturized. Chemosensitive resistors are one of the sensing platforms that have a potential to satisfy these two conditions. In this work we test viability of fabricating a 16-element chemosensitive resistor array for detection and recognition of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). The sensors were fabricated using blends of carbon black and gas chromatography (GC) stationary-phase materials preselected based on their sorption properties. Blends of the selected GC materials with carbon black particles were subsequently coated over chemosensitive resistor devices and the resulting sensors/arrays evaluated in exposure experiments against vapors of pyrrole, benzenal, nonanal, and 2-phenethylamine at 150, 300, 450, and 900 ppb. Responses of the fabricated 16-element array were stable and differed for each individual odorant sample, proving the blends of GC materials with carbon black particles can be effectively used for fabrication of large odor-sensing arrays based on chemosensitive resistors. The obtained results suggest that the proposed sensing devices could be effective in discriminating odor/vapor samples at the sub-ppm level.

Paper-Based Disposable Molecular Sensor Constructed from Oxide Nanowires, Cellulose Nanofibers, and Pencil-Drawn Electrodes

“…To effectively detect volatile molecules, various types of molecular sensors such as polymer-based chemiresistor sensors, two-dimensional nanosheet sensors, and inorganic nanomaterial-based sensors have been demonstrated. Among these, semiconducting metal oxides show promise from the viewpoint of long-term molecular sensing owing to their thermal/chemical stability in air .…”

Odor Sensor System Using Chemosensitive Resistor Array and Machine Learning

“…Table I [12] shows the names and providers of the GC materials. CB was obtained from Sigma Aldrich (St. Louis, MO, USA) and TOKAI CARBON (Tokyo, Japan).…”

“…The GC materials were evaluated by a QCM sensor before forming the chemosensitive resistors in our previous study [12]. In the study, we choose 21 types of GC materials on the basis of the McReynolds constant [10].…”

Odor Recognition of Thermal Decomposition Products of Electric Cables Using Odor Sensing Arrays

“…As shown in Table 2, two types of sensor array are prepared. Sixteen types of highpolarity GC materials with different functional groups were used in array A, and they were derived from previous studies [13]. Array B is based on array A, but some of its GC materials were low polarity.…”

“…We attempt to monitor the odorants released from the insulation layer upon overheating to build a system that can activate the alarm before a fire or short circuit occurs. When using an odor sensing system with chemosensitive layers, diverse information can be obtained by analyzing the gas response characteristics of a cable when it is overheated [13]. For example, in addition to identifying decomposition gases from cables at different temperatures, it is hoped that different types of cable can be distinguished simultaneously.…”