International Center for Materials Nanoarchitectonics (MANA), National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS), 1-1 Namiki, Tsukuba 305-0044, Japan.
Graduate School of Information Science and Technology, Osaka University, 1-2 Yamadaoka, Suita 565-0871, Japan.
Biosensors (Basel). 2023 Mar 10;13(3):368. doi: 10.3390/bios13030368.
Olfactory sensors are one of the most anticipated applications of gas sensors. To distinguish odors-complex mixtures of gas species, it is necessary to extract sensor responses originating from the target odors. However, the responses of gas sensors tend to be affected by interfering gases with much higher concentrations than target odor molecules. To realize practical applications of olfactory sensors, extracting minute sensor responses of odors from major interfering gases is required. In this study, we propose a repetitive direct comparison (rDC) method, which can highlight the difference in odors by alternately injecting the two target odors into a gas sensor. We verified the feasibility of the rDC method on chocolates with two different flavors by using a sensor system based on membrane-type surface stress sensors (MSS). The odors of the chocolates were measured by the rDC method, and the signal-to-noise ratios (S/N) of the measurements were evaluated. The results showed that the rDC method achieved improved S/N compared to a typical measurement. The result also indicates that sensing signals could be enhanced for a specific combination of receptor materials of MSS and target odors.
嗅觉传感器是气体传感器最受期待的应用之一。为了区分气味——复杂的混合气体，有必要提取源自目标气味的传感器响应。然而，气体传感器的响应往往容易受到浓度比目标气味分子高得多的干扰气体的影响。为了实现嗅觉传感器的实际应用，需要从主要干扰气体中提取微小的气味传感器响应。在本研究中，我们提出了一种重复直接比较（rDC）方法，该方法可以通过交替将两种目标气味注入气体传感器来突出气味的差异。我们使用基于膜型表面应力传感器（MSS）的传感器系统，对两种不同口味的巧克力验证了 rDC 方法的可行性。通过 rDC 方法测量巧克力的气味，并评估测量的信噪比（S/N）。结果表明，与典型测量相比，rDC 方法实现了更好的 S/N。结果还表明，对于 MSS 和目标气味的特定受体材料组合，可以增强传感信号。
