THE HEART OF ELECTRONIC NOSES

CHEMOSENSORS

BOAKYE DANQUAH
MPHIL ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY PG 1

1
 OUTLINE

Introduction

Classification of sensors

Amperometric Gas Sensors ( AGS )

Conclusion

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 INTRODUCTION

The human nose as an analytical sensing tool

Limitations

human sense of smell is subjective ,

often affected by physical and mental conditions,

and tires easily.

3
The schematic view of the human nose

Figure 1: Human Olfactory Model

The Senses. (cited 29.10.2003)
http://users.tpg.com.au/users/amcgann/bo
dy/senses.html
4
 INTRODUCTION CONTD

There is considerable need for a device that could mimic the human sense
of smell and could provide an objective, quantitative estimation of smell or
odor.

The electronic nose (e-nose). This is an electronic instrument that is

capable of detecting and recognizing many gases and odors, and comprises
an array of sensors using several chemosensors and a computer.

There are different types of chemosensors, especially odor sensors that

have been employed within an e-nose.

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 INTRODUCTION CONTD
A chemosensor is a device that is capable of converting a chemical quantity
into an electrical signal and respondate the concentration of specific
particles such as atoms, molecules, or ions in gases or liquids by providing
an electrical signal.

Principles such as :

electrical,

thermal,

optical, and

mass can be used to organize these chemosensors according to their device

class.

6
Schematic diagram of E-nose

Figure 2 :

P. Keller. "Overview of Electronic Nose

Algorithms". International Joint Conference
of Neural Networks (IJCNN'99),
Washington, USA, 1999.
7
 CLASSIFICATIONS OF CHEMOSENSORS

Metal oxide semiconductors (MOS),

MOS field-effect transistors (MOSFET),

Organic conducting polymers (CP),

Chemocapacitors (CAP),

Quartz crystal microbalance(QCM),

Surface acoustic wave (SAW),

Surface plasmon resonance (SPR),

Fluorescence,

Amperometry and others that can be easily used as the sensor [1].

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 Prototypes of E- noses

The 4440B (Agilent technologies) Prometeus ( Alpha Mos )

Figure 3:
The University of Warwick, Sensors
Research Laboratory, Home page.
(01.12.2003)
http://www.eng.warwick.ac.uk/SRL/electro
9
nic_nose.htm
 AMPEROMETRIC SENSORS ( AGS )

The AGS is a class of electrochemical gas sensors sometimes called

voltammetric, micro-fuel cell, polarographic, or amperostatic, [103, 104].

For liquid phase analytes, the electrodes and analytes are immersed in a
common electrolyte and these have resulted in electronic tongues [102].

In gas-phase analyte is involved in a unique gas-liquid/solid interfacial

transport process.

10
 The common characteristic of all AGSs is that measurements are made by
recording the current in the electrochemical cell between the working and
counter electrodes as a function of the analyte concentration

The AGS, is controlled by a potentiostatic circuit and produces its current

or signal when exposed to a gas/vapor containing an electroactive analyte.

The analyte diffuses into the electrochemical cell and to the working
electrode surface and where it participates in a redox reaction.

11
 The cell current is directly related to the rate of reaction taking place
at the electrode surface and is described by application of Faradays
Law, relating the mass, W, of a substance of molecular mass M
(grams mol) as:

W = QM
nF
Where Q is the charge per unit electrode area, F is Faradays constant in
coulombs/equivalent, and n is the number of electron equivalents per mole
of the reacting analyte

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 Assuming there are no other reacting species in the solution, the observed
current, i, is directly proportional to the amount of analyte, W, that is
supplied to the working electrode and, this in turn can be related to the
gaseous analyte concentration

i = k [ gas ]

The AGS is made reactive towards a variety of analytes by choosing

different potentials, working electrode catalysts, electrolytes, porous
membranes, and different electroanalytical methods

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Carbon monoxide [ CO ] Amperometric Gas Sensor

CO (g) + H2O CO2(g) + 2H +(aq) + 2e-

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 OPERATION

The CO diffuses or is pumped to the region of the working electrode,

dissolves in the electrolyte, diffuses to the working electrode surface where
it undergoes reaction with subsequent desorption of the CO2 product and
conduction of the 2e- away through the metal electrode.

The more CO that is present, the larger the current.

Typical currents are in the micro- or pico-ampere level for ppm level
reactants.

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 The amperometric gas sensor is one of the most widely used sensors for
toxic gas detection, i.e. CO, NO, NO2, H2S, SO2, and so on.

The AGS was used in the enose [105] for one of the earliest determinations
of bacterial contamination [106] and identification of discrete analytes
[107].

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 ADVANTAGES OF THE AMPEROMETRIC APPROACH

high sensitivity,

a good deal of control over selectivity

relatively low cost,

small size,

and long stable lifetimes.

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 CONCLUSION

Quantitative and qualitative analytical results are not enough and we

are requested to answer more pertinent and complex questions.

Sensors provide critical data for the e-nose and other analytical
instruments that can address such complicated analytical tasks.

Without good performance we have no chance for good data or good

answers to these types of questions.

Sensors and sensory data must therefore continue to be improved.

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 REFERENCES

Artificial Chemical Sensing: Proceedings of the Eighth International Symposium on Olfaction and the E-nose
(ISOEN 2001), March 26-28, 2001, Washington DC., Eds. J. R. Stetter, W. R. Penrose, (The
Electrochemical Society, Pennington, NJ), 2001.

F. P. Winquist, P. Wide, I. Lundstrom.Anal. Chim. Acta., 1997, 357, 2131.

Handbook of Machine Olfaction: Electronic Nose Technology. Edited by T.C. Pearce, S.S. Schiffman, H.T.
Nagle, J.W. Gardner
Copyright 2003 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH Co. KGaA, Weinheim

Handbook of Machine Olfaction: Electronic Nose Technology. Edited by T.C. Pearce, S.S. Schiffman, H.T.
Nagle, J.W. Gardner
Copyright 2003 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH Co. KGaA, Weinheim

J. R. Stetter, M. W. Findlar, K. M. Schroeder, C. Yue, W. R. Penrose. Anal. Chim. Acta., 1993, 284, 1.

J. R. Stetter, P. C. Jurs, S. L. Rose. Anal. Chem., 1986, 58, 860866.

 REFERENCES

P. Hauptmann. Sensors-Principles and Applications, (Carl Hanser Verlag & Prentice Hall), 1993, 115153.

P. Keller. "Overview of Electronic Nose Algorithms". International Joint Conference of Neural Networks
(IJCNN'99), Washington, USA, 1999.

S. C. Chang, J. R. Stetter, C. S. Cha. Talanta, 1993, 40(4), 461467.

The Senses. (cited 29.10.2003)

http://users.tpg.com.au/users/amcgann/body/senses.html

Z. Cao, W. J. Buttner, J. R. Stetter. Electroanalysis, 1992, 4, 253266.

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