A microfluidic gas analyzer for selective detection of biomarker gases

We report fabricating a microfluidic device that selectively detects biomarker gases. It consists of a microfluidic channel and a semiconductor gas sensor integrated on a PMMA chip. Biomarker gases are identified by monitoring their transient molecular diffusion-driven flow in a microfluidic channel using a semiconductor gas sensor. Analyte-dependent specific features of the sensor response patterns are extracted, which facilitate analyte classification in a 3-D feature space. The ability of the device to distinguish four different gas biomarkers, including acetone, hydrogen, ethanol and benzene, in a wide concentration range, is demonstrated. The miniaturized gas analyzer presented is versatile and cost effective.