Portable Low-Cost Electronic Nose Based on Surface Acoustic Wave Sensors for the Detection of BTX Vapors in Air

A portable electronic nose based on surface acoustic wave (SAW) sensors is proposed in this work to detect toxic chemicals, which have a great potential to threaten the surrounding natural environment or adversely affect the health of people. We want to emphasize that ferrite nanoparticles, decorated (Au, Pt, Pd) and undecorated, have been used as sensitive coatings for the first time in these types of sensors. Furthermore, the proposed electronic nose incorporates signal conditioning and acquisition and transmission modules. The electronic nose was tested to low concentrations of benzene, toluene, and xylene, exhibiting excellent performance in terms of sensitivity, selectivity, and response time, indicating its potential as a monitoring system that can contribute to the detection of toxic compounds.

Keywords: portable electronic nose; Love-SAW sensor; surface acoustic wave; Fe₂O₃ sensitive layer; gas detection