Issue 19, 2024

Emerging trends in metal oxide-based electronic noses for healthcare applications: a review

Abstract

An electronic nose (E-nose) is a technology fundamentally inspired by the human nose, designed to detect, recognize, and differentiate specific odors or volatile components in complex and chaotic environments. Comprising an array of sensors with meticulously designed nanostructured architectures, E-noses translate the chemical information captured by these sensors into useful metrics using complex pattern recognition algorithms. E-noses can significantly enhance the quality of life by offering preventive point-of-care devices for medical diagnostics through breath analysis, and by monitoring and tracking hazardous and toxic gases in the environment. They are increasingly being used in defense and surveillance, medical diagnostics, agriculture, environmental monitoring, and product validation and authentication. The major challenge in developing a reliable E-nose involves miniaturization and low power consumption. Various sensing materials are employed to address these issues. This review presents the key advancements over the last decade in E-nose technology, specifically focusing on chemiresistive metal oxide sensing materials. It discusses their sensing mechanisms, integration into portable E-noses, and various data analysis techniques. Additionally, we review the primary metal oxide-based E-noses for disease detection through breath analysis. Finally, we address the major challenges and issues in developing and implementing a portable metal oxide-based E-nose.

Graphical abstract: Emerging trends in metal oxide-based electronic noses for healthcare applications: a review

Article information

Article type
Review Article
Submitted
06 Jan 2024
Accepted
20 Apr 2024
First published
29 Apr 2024

Nanoscale, 2024,16, 9259-9283

Emerging trends in metal oxide-based electronic noses for healthcare applications: a review

Z. U. Abideen, W. U. Arifeen and Y. M. N. D. Y. Bandara, Nanoscale, 2024, 16, 9259 DOI: 10.1039/D4NR00073K

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