A bioelectronic sensor based on canine olfactory nanovesicle-carbon nanotube hybrid structures for the fast assessment of food quality

Abstract

We developed an olfactory-nanovesicle-fused carbon-nanotube-transistor biosensor (OCB) that mimics the responses of a canine nose for the sensitive and selective detection of hexanal, an indicator of the oxidation of food. OCBs allowed us to detect hexanal down to 1 fM concentration in real-time. Significantly, we demonstrated the detection of hexanal with an excellent selectivity capable of discriminating hexanal from analogous compounds such as pentanal, heptanal, and octanal. Furthermore, we successfully detected hexanal in spoiled milk without any pretreatment processes. Considering these results, our sensor platform should offer a new method for the assessment of food quality and contribute to the development of portable sensing devices. © 2012 The Royal Society of Chemistry.