Stabilized zirconia-based acetone sensor utilizing Fe2TiO5-TiO2 sensing electrode for noninvasive diagnosis of diabetics

Abstract

Acetone detection in exhaled breath as a biomarker has been a new method for non-invasive diagnosis of diabetes in medical diagnosis. Here, we fabricated a stabilized zirconia (YSZ) solid electrolyte type acetone sensor based on mixed potential sensing mechanism using Fe2TiO5-TiO2 oxide sensing electrode (SE) prepared by a simple sol-gel method. The acetone sensing performance of the fabricated sensor attached with Fe2TiO5-TiO2-SE calcined at 1200℃ was evaluated at different working temperatures from 490℃ to 640℃. The sensor exhibits the highest response values at all the evaluated concentrations of acetone at 590℃, which even detects as low as 100 ppb acetone with the response value of -2.9 mV. The sensor displays high sensitivities of −13 mV/decade and −46 mV/decade in the acetone concentration ranges of 0.1 ppm – 1 ppm and 1 ppm – 20 ppm, respectively. Meanwhile, the selectivity, reproducibility, humidity/time stability of the developed sensing device are still impressive. Moreover, the breath analysis of healthy volunteers and diabetic volunteers was discussed to verify the application value of the sensor. The good acetone detectability of the developed sensor provides a potential for routine monitoring and early screening of diabetics.