Combined pulsed UV and temperature activation of metal oxide nanomaterials in breath analysis applications

The aim of this work is to develop a system for breath analysis, introducing a new methodology for improving the discrimination between ethanol and acetone at high humidity levels. Ethanol and acetone are present in exhaled breath and have been identified as biomarkers of different diseases especially in patients suffering from colorectal cancer. The system comprises a 6-element sensor array employing In
₂
O
₃
and WO
₃
nanomaterials, which are operated under pulsed-UV and at two different temperatures. Two response variables are obtained for each sensor: the rate of electrical resistance change when UV is on and the same when UV is off. Those rates are input to a non-supervised method: PCA. The results obtained strongly suggest that this setup could be useful for detecting these biomarkers in breath analysis applications.