"Detecting Diseases Through Exhaled Hydrogen Sulfide" KAIST and Samsung Develop Bad Breath Sensor

"Capable of Analyzing Biomarker Gases at a Concentration of One in a Billion"

[Asia Economy Reporter Minyoung Cha] A gas sensor platform that effectively detects hydrogen sulfide gas, which is emitted at high concentrations from patients with halitosis, has been developed to assist in disease diagnosis.

The Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) announced on the 28th that a joint research team led by Professor Il-Doo Kim of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering and Senior Researcher Gak Namgung of Samsung Electronics’ Advanced Institute of Technology has developed a gas sensor platform capable of diagnosing diseases through breath analysis.

The newly developed gas sensor platform selectively detects trace amounts of disease-related biomarker gases (biological indicators used to diagnose the progression of diseases) contained in exhaled breath, enabling real-time monitoring of diseases.

Since most biomarker gases exist in extremely low concentrations ranging from ppb (parts per billion) to ppm (parts per million), technology that selectively detects only the target gas is crucial for accurate analysis. Although methods using platinum, palladium, and other specific catalysts combined on the surface of oxide sensing materials have been employed to recognize gases, there has been a limitation in detecting concentrations at the ppb level.

The research team dramatically improved gas sensing performance by combining sodium catalysts, which show high reactivity to hydrogen sulfide gas, and highly active platinum catalysts with metal oxide nanofibers that have a large specific surface area. They explained that the sensor exhibited 780 times higher sensitivity to 1 ppm hydrogen sulfide gas and 277 times higher sensitivity to ethanol gas.

The team developed a portable integrated sensor platform that combines the newly developed gas sensor with pressure, temperature, and humidity sensors to monitor health status through exhaled breath. After conducting 80 breath analyses, the platform determined the presence or absence of halitosis with 86.3% accuracy.

Professor Il-Doo Kim stated, "This technology can contribute to early disease diagnosis by non-invasively determining health abnormalities without blood sampling or imaging."

The research results are scheduled to be published as the cover paper in the August issue of the international academic journal ACS Nano.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.