Development of an acetone detection method using 2,4-dinitrophenylhydrazine impregnated porous glass

Acetone has been attracting attention as a human biogas, and it can be detected in the breath of diabetic patients. Therefore, a method for easily measuring the trace amounts of acetone is essential. By focusing on 2,4-dinitrophenylhydrazine (DNPH), which was used in a detection tube, we tried to detect acetone using a sensor element that was produced by impregnating the reagent into porous glass with a large surface area. Our research illustrated that the absorption peak of acetone-DNPH was shifted to a 14 nm longer wavelength than that of DNPH and showed that its molar absorption coefficient at 363 nm was approximately 1.86 times that of DNPH. Based on these results, we attempted to detect acetone using spectral analyses of the sensor element, and successfully detected acetone from sub-parts per million (ppm) concentrations to 10ppm after an exposure time of 1 h.