Development of e-nose biosensors based on organic semiconductors towards low-cost health care diagnosis in gynecological diseases

Abstract The increase of organic electronics and consequently, the development of sensors based on organic polymers have attracted a lot of attention of the scientific community. These multifunctional, easily processed and low cost materials, can be used to develop odor biosensors (electronic nose – e-nose concept) for different applications, including medical field and the detection of various diseases. The present work, is focused in the scaling-up of a devoted laboratory approach, in particular concerning the development of organic odor biosensors based on a conductive polymer (PEDOT:PSS) in a pre-industrial approach employing screen printing / roll-to-roll fabrication systems. A detailed characterization of sensor heads with different geometry is reported on a specific case of gynecological diseases caused by Lactobacillus infection, in both resistive and capacitive measurements. The obtained data, give a useful qualitative recognition pattern that can be used in home care / home health concept.