A pocket-sized device enables detection of methanol adulteration in alcoholic beverages

Abegg, Sebastian; Magro, Leandro; Broek, Jan van den; Pratsinis, Sotiris E.; Güntner, Andreas T.

doi:10.1038/s43016-020-0095-9

Cited by 63 publications

(96 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…The handheld detector is shown in Figure 1 and its design elaborated elsewhere (Abegg, et al, 2020). In brief, vapor from the headspace of liquid samples was extracted with a capillary (Sterican, B. Braun, Germany) fixed to a Teflon tube (4 mm inner diameter).…”

Section: Device Designmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This sensor was mounted onto a leadless chip carrier (LCC, Chelsea Technology Inc., U.S.A.) with high temperature carbon paste (Ted Pella Inc., U.S.A.) and electrically connected through aluminum wires (30 µm in diameter) by bonding (F&K Delvotec, Germany). After placing it on a socket (E-Tec, Switzerland) that was soldered to a printed circuit board (PCB), the sensor was sealed (gas-tight) by an inert Teflon chamber with its design disclosed elsewhere (Abegg, et al, 2020). A microcontroller (Raspberry pi Zero W, U.S.A.) provided the required heating power to operate the sensor at 350 °C (van den Broek, et al, 2019), monitored its resistance and communicated data wirelessly to a smartphone by Bluetooth or Wi-Fi.…”

Section: Device Designmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Right before each sensor measurement, the prepared vials were rigorously shaken (at least s) to afford phase equilibrium in the vial (Abegg, et al, 2020). Next, the capillary of the detector was inserted through the vial septum together with a second capillary for pressure balance.…”

Section: Headspace Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

“…By flushing with ambient air at 65 mL min -1 , residual adsorbate was removed from the separation column to facilitate fast detector reusability. After recovery, the flow rate was set to zero to reduce the amount of noise due to ambient air interferants (Abegg, et al, 2020).…”

Section: Headspace Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Here, we present an inexpensive and compact device that quantifies hazardous methanol accurately in hand sanitizers by headspace analysis. It comprises a separation column of Tenax TA particles and a chemoresistive gas sensor of Pd-doped SnO2 nanoparticles (van den Broek et al, 2019) integrated into a smartphone-assisted analyzer with validated performance for alcoholic drinks (Abegg et al, 2020). Here, we applied it to seven pure and methanol-spiked (0.01 -90 vol%) commercial hand sanitizers (total 76 samples) with various compositions (Table 1) to assess its resistance to challenging 2-propanol, glycerol, various odorants and gellike viscosity.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Sniffing Methanol in Hand Sanitizers

Güntner¹,

Magro²,

Broek³

et al. 2020

Preprint

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The COVID-19 pandemic has increased dramatically the demand for hand sanitizers. A major concern is their adulteration with methanol that caused more than 700 fatalities in Iran and U.S.A. (since Feb. 2020). In response, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has restricted the methanol content in hand sanitizers to 0.063 vol% and blacklisted 194 products (as of Oct. 1, 2020). Here, we present a low-cost, handheld and smartphone-assisted device that detects methanol selectively in hand sanitizers between 0.01-100 vol% within two minutes by headspace analysis. It features a nanoporous polymer column that separates methanol from confounders by adsorption (i.e. van-der-Waals forces) rendering it selective. A chemoresistive gas sensor detects the methanol. When tested on seven pure and spiked commercial sanitizers (total 76 samples), methanol was quantified accurately, in excellent (R<sup>2</sup> = 0.99) agreement to "gold standard" gas chromatography. Most importantly, methanol quantification was hardly interfered by different sanitizer compositions (e.g. 2-propanol, ethanol, butanone, glycerin, aloe vera essence, various odorants and colorants) and gel-like viscosity while other potential contaminants (e.g. 1-propanol) were recognized as well. This device meets an urgent need for distributed and on-site methanol screening by authorities (e.g. customs, police), health product distributers and even laymen. <br>

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Section: Device Designmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Device Designmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Headspace Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Headspace Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Sniffing Methanol in Hand Sanitizers

Güntner¹,

Magro²,

Broek³

et al. 2020

Preprint

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Oxide/ZIF‐8 Hybrid Nanofiber Yarns: Heightened Surface Activity for Exceptional Chemiresistive Sensing

et al. 2022

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Though highly promising as powerful gas sensors, oxide semiconductor chemiresistors have low surface reactivity, which limits their selectivity, sensitivity, and reaction kinetics, particularly at room temperature (RT) operation. It is proposed that a hybrid design involving the nanostructuring of oxides and passivation with selective gas filtration layers can potentially overcome the issues with surface activity. Herein, unique bi‐stacked heterogeneous layers are introduced; that is, nanostructured oxides covered by conformal nanoporous gas filters, on ultrahigh‐density nanofiber (NF) yarns via sputter deposition with indium tin oxide (ITO) and subsequent self‐assembly of zeolitic imidazolate framework (ZIF‐8) nanocrystals. The NF yarn composed of ZIF‐8‐coated ITO films can offer heightened surface activity at RT because of high porosity, large surface area, and effective screening of interfering gases. As a case study, the hybrid sensor demonstrated remarkable sensing performances characterized by high NO selectivity, fast response/recovery kinetics (>60‐fold improvement), and large responses (12.8‐fold improvement @ 1 ppm) in comparison with pristine yarn@ITO, especially under highly humid conditions. Molecular modeling reveals an increased penetration ratio of NO over O2 to the ITO surface, indicating that NO oxidation is reliably prevented and that the secondary adsorption sites provided by the ZIF‐8 facilitate the adsorption/desorption of NO, both to and from ITO.

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Tackling Humidity with Designer Ionic Liquid‐Based Gas Sensing Soft Materials

et al. 2022

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Relative humidity is simultaneously a sensing target and a contaminant in gas and volatile organic compound (VOC) sensing systems, where strategies to control humidity interference are required. An unmet challenge is the creation of gas‐sensitive materials where the response to humidity is controlled by the material itself. Here, humidity effects are controlled through the design of gelatin formulations in ionic liquids without and with liquid crystals as electrical and optical sensors, respectively. In this design, the anions [DCA]− and [Cl]− of room temperature ionic liquids from the 1‐butyl‐3‐methylimidazolium family tailor the response to humidity and, subsequently, sensing of VOCs in dry and humid conditions. Due to the combined effect of the materials formulations and sensing mechanisms, changing the anion from [DCA]− to the much more hygroscopic [Cl]−, leads to stronger electrical responses and much weaker optical responses to humidity. Thus, either humidity sensors or humidity‐tolerant VOC sensors that do not require sample preconditioning or signal processing to correct humidity impact are obtained. With the wide spread of 3D‐ and 4D‐printing and intelligent devices, the monitoring and tuning of humidity in sustainable biobased materials offers excellent opportunities in e‐nose sensing arrays and wearable devices compatible with operation at room conditions.

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A pocket-sized device enables detection of methanol adulteration in alcoholic beverages

Cited by 63 publications

References 15 publications

Sniffing Methanol in Hand Sanitizers

Sniffing Methanol in Hand Sanitizers

Oxide/ZIF‐8 Hybrid Nanofiber Yarns: Heightened Surface Activity for Exceptional Chemiresistive Sensing

Tackling Humidity with Designer Ionic Liquid‐Based Gas Sensing Soft Materials

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