The prestigious international Open Access scientific journal “Biosensors” published in its “Recent Advances in Nanomaterial-Enhanced Gas Sensing” special edition the paper “Two-in-One Sensor Based on PV4D4-Coated TiO2 Films for Food Spoilage Detection and as a Breath Marker for Several Diseases“, written by the young researchers from DMIB-FCIM-UTM, univ. assist., research scientist intern Mihai BRÎNZĂ and Dr. Nicolai ABABII.
The paper presents a new approach to the detection of biomarkers, particularly in the form of vapors and gases that are in the composition of human exhaled air. The sensor developed and studied in the paper has great potential in being used for the detection of ammonia concentration and hydrogen gas, both in human exhalation for the detection of diseases, but also in certain food products, for the detection and determination of spoiled products, which present a certain degree of threat to health. The obtained results are very promising in the field of gas sensors based on metal oxides, but also for the field of biomedical engineering and diagnostics, as the research demonstrates that metal oxide sensors with specific polymer coating have the potential to replace technologies for researching more complex gas components through nanoscale sensors, being compact and accessible in various fields.
The authors – researchers from UTM, but also from the Kiel University (CAU) in Germany, the teams of Prof. Rainer ADELUNG, Dr. habil. and Prof. Franz FAUPEL, Dr. habil., Prof. Thierry Pauporté, Dr. habil., from CNRS, Université PSL in Paris, France obtained new structures for selective sensors for Volatile Organic Compounds (ammonia and hydrogen) based on metal oxides coated with polymers, specifically: nanostructured titanium oxide, coated with a thin layer of polymeric.
The current development trend in the biomedical engineering field, namely obtaining new diagnostic methods through non-invasive methods, further motivates the young bioengineers from UTM to carry out research on the development of sensors based on metal oxides, coated with polymers, in order to detect gases exhaled by people. As a host of biomarkers in the human body, exhaled gases are often considered insignificant until they reach a certain concentration. Making sensors and detecting the exchange of small concentrations at the ppm (parts per million) level, allow making connections between certain processes in the human body and the investigated biomarkers, which in turn has enormous potential to prevent some diseases, such as kidney failure, by detecting changes in exhaled NH3 concentration, or digestive tract problems, by determining H2 concentrations.
The paper was developed as a result of the invitation from the specialized scientific journal “Biosensors” to univ. assist., research scientist intern Mihai BRÎNZĂ, lect., Dr. Nicolai ABABII, under the direction of Prof. Oleg LUPAN, Dr. habil., head of the Department of Microelectronics and Biomedical Engineering at FCIM-UTM (https://fcim.utm.md/departamentele-fcim/departamentul-mib/), scientist present in the international charts (https://www.adscientificindex.com/scientist/oleg-lupan/3925121; https://exaly.com/rankings/author/journal-2/13153/).
The authors thank ANCD Grants no. 20.80009.5007.09 and no. 20.80009.5007.11 from the Technical University of Moldova. Project director: Prof., Dr. habil. Viorel BOSTAN, rector of UTM.
“Biosensors” is an international, peer-reviewed, open access journal on the technology and science of biosensors published monthly online by MDPI, with Impact Factor 5.743 and high visibility, indexed in Scopus, Web of Science, PubMed, MEDLINE, PMC, Embase, CAPlus/SciFinder, Inspec and other databases, being extremely important for the scientific community, but also for UTM and the UTM repository, offering the possibility that these works will be accessed by millions of researchers around the world, thus increasing the impact of the given research and, respectively, the fame of the authors and the institution they represent, in the given case – UTM.
