Capacitive Pixelated CMOS Electronic Nose

TL;DR

This paper introduces a low-cost, CMOS-based electronic nose with 1024 capacitive microelectrodes functionalized by inkjet printing, capable of detecting and distinguishing VOCs with high sensitivity and low cross-sensitivity to humidity.

Contribution

It presents a novel capacitive CMOS E-nose with large pixel array, functionalization via inkjet printing, and demonstrated ability to detect specific VOCs under humid conditions.

Findings

Reproducible responses to binary VOC mixtures.

High response to 2-butanone and toluene.

Low cross-sensitivity to water vapor.

Abstract

Although some of the human senses can nowadays be replaced by low-cost electronic sensors such as microphones and image sensors, a compact low-cost electronic nose (E-nose) remains elusive. In this work, an E-nose is presented that can capacitively detect volatile organic compounds (VOCs). The E-nose consists of an array of 1024 capacitive microelectrodes on a complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) chip, functionalized by inkjet printing. The pixels are coated with a UV-curable ink and metal-organic frameworks (MOFs: ZIF-8, MIL-101(Cr), MIL-140A) to create chemically diverse microdomains that generate gas-specific response patterns through adsorption-driven dielectric loading. ZIF-8 exhibits the highest response to 2-butanone, whereas the UV-curable layer responds most strongly to toluene; both show low cross-sensitivity to water vapor, enabling operation under humid conditions. After calibration in pure gases, reproducible responses to controlled binary mixtures of toluene and 2-butanone are observed. The device operates at low power, combines a large 1024-pixel array with CMOS integration, and offers application-specific functionalization by inkjet printing, providing both low cost and versatility. By further extending the range of functionalization materials, the E-nose can be applied to analyze a wide variety of gases, with potential applications in safety monitoring, health, agriculture, and robotics.