Application of a gas sensor microarray to human breath analysis

Abstract A novel type of metal oxide gas sensor array was used in order to develop a cheap instrument for a quick self-check of breath odor quality. The sensor array consists of 40 monolithic sensor elements whose different sensitivity was achieved by gradient techniques. SnO 2 and WO 3 coatings as detection layers were tested at different temperatures in order to optimize the system to a sensitive and fast detection of malodor components like NH 3 , H 2 S, CH 3 SH, indole and putrescine, with little cross-sensitivity to ethanol and humidity.