An Ultrasensitive, Selective, Multiplexed Superbioelectronic Nose That Mimics the Human Sense of Smell

Abstract

Human sensory-mimicking systems, such as electronic brains, tongues, skin, and ears, have been promoted for use in improving social welfare. However, no significant achievements have been made in mimicking the human nose due to the complexity of olfactory sensory neurons. Combinational coding of human olfactory receptors (hORs) is essential for odorant discrimination in mixtures, and the development of hOR-combined multiplexed systems has progressed slowly. Here, we report the first demonstration of an artificial multiplexed superbioelectronic nose (MSB-nose) that mimics the human olfactory sensory system, leading to high-performance odorant discriminatory ability in mixtures. Specifically, portable MSB-noses were constructed using highly uniform graphene micropatterns (GMs) that were conjugated with two different hORs, which were employed as transducers in a liquid-ion gated field-effect transistor (FET). Field-induced signals from the MSB-nose were monitored and provided high sensitivity and selectivity toward target odorants (minimum detectable level: 0.1 fM). More importantly, the potential of the MSB-nose as a tool to encode hOR combinations was demonstrated using principal component analysis.

A Short Review of the Architecture and Computational Analysis in the Design of Graphene Based Bioelectronic Devices

“…• Enzyma�c fuel cell (3) • Microbial fuel cell (1) • Bioelectronic nose (7,8) • Bioelectronic tongue (7,8) • Bioelectronic eyes (7,8) • Fluidtrobe (80) • U tube concept (80) • Skin patches (4,5) • DNA extrac�on chip (4) • Glucose • monitoring (5,6) • Electrocardiography (ECG) (6) • Ac�ve exoskeleton (10) • Passive upper limb (10) • Passive lower limb (10) • Kidney mimic (9) • Liver mimic (9) • Heart mimic (9) • Lung mimic (9) (Anti-IgG) is anchored on gold nanoparticles (AuNPs). (40)(41)(42) The AuNPs are spread over a thermally reduced graphene oxide (TrGO) membrane as the channel material of the FET; these nanoparticles have shown specific recognition ability for IgG.…”

“…A bioelectronic nose based on a multiplexed graphene-FET system prepared by the micropatterning of graphene using photolithography was also developed for a human sensory mimicking system that can discern a specific odorant in a mixture. (7,23,45) Figure 3 shows the design and architecture of a multiplexed bionose fabricated using microstructured graphene-based FETs and the corresponding human olfactory system. The bionose was designed to detect odorants such as amyl butyrate and helional.…”

“…Using a template that resembles the transmembrane structure of the G-protein-coupled receptor and a structural model of the human olfactory receptor leads to the development of an excellent structure for an artificial bionose that can mimic the human nose. (7,23,45) The use of graphene in those FET biosensors as an electrochemical transducer shows an exceptionally highly sensitive response owing to the extreme sensitivity of graphene …”

“…(46,47) On the other hand, the structure of endothelium tissue is similar to that of epithilium tissue, but the endothilial cells are elongated and aligned in the direction of fluid flow. Such unique structures impose a restriction on the transport of any migrating (7,23,45) species through or across the hybrid structure. (46,47) A free-body diagram that is equivelant to the OOCs for computational purposes is shown in Fig.…”

“…(4)(5)(6) For applications in artificial perception, several types of bioelectronic devices such as the bioelectronic nose, brain, and tongue have been demonstrated. (7,8) In the past decade, on-chip bioelectronic devices with the unique function of mimicking human organs such as the kidney, lung, heart, and liver have been developed for use in medical treatment. (9) Bioelectronic devices have also found their way into the development of exoskeletons for which a passive exoskeleton and active limbs have been designed and fabricated.…”