A research group led by Professor Masato Tominaga of the Faculty of Science and Engineering of Saga University, in collaboration with Professor Osamu Shirai of Kyoto University, has developed an ultra-sensitive alcohol gas sensor that can be applied to the skin.
The skin emits trace amounts of various organic gases.Therefore, a specific skin gas detection sensor is required to react only with a specific gas and to have ultra-high sensitivity.
The research group used an enzyme that specifically reacts with alcohol to develop a highly efficient detection device that can directly convert the enzymatic reaction into an electrical signal.This device can detect an alcohol gas concentration of about 30 ppb (ppb = 10 billionth, 1 ppb is 1 cubic millimeter of gas in 1 cubic meter).When I actually attached the device to my wrist and drank alcohol (1% sake, 15 mL of about one cup of sake), I was able to detect and quantify the alcohol gas released from my wrist.
The detection part needs to be replaced periodically, but it is a disposable type (like a portable blood sugar level sensor), and is made of biodegradable cellulose and carbon materials that have a low environmental impact. .
In the future, they plan to work on improving the device for sensitive detection stability and sensitive detection of other organic gases associated with disease.
reference:[Saga University] Detecting alcohol from the skin with ultra-high sensitivity just by applying it
