A trandisciplinary overview about the electronic nose
Abstract
The mechanism by which the human nose perceives an odor is complex and involves various chemical reactions. The instrumental detection of the smell can be carried out through the “electronic nose”, an interactive device that lends itself to various applications. In the agri-food sector, the development of portable devices makes it possible to smell foods and measure their level of deterioration and maturation. Applications regard the olfactory nuisance in environmental compatibility of materials and techniques for packing and laying conglomerates (for example, bituminous), as well as the environmental monitoring of pollutants. The electronic nose also represents an important resource in the screening of respiratory pathologies. The gas sensor market leverages physics, chemistry and materials engineering to develop highly sensitive, reliable and stable sensor platforms. In this direction, new materials are being considered, including polymers, nanostructured metal oxides and nanostructured carbon-based materials (CNTs). In addition to the experimental aspects, theoretical-mathematical modeling plays an extremely important role in this sector, with particular attention to the case of micro- and nanometric dimensions. The paper also offers an overview of the mathematical models relating to mechanical processes and dynamics at the micro-nanometric scale, focusing on the Drude-Lorentz-type models, with related more recent generalizations.
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