New sensor that picks up bad breath, turns brown if it’s time to swig some minty mouthwash
- Chemists developed a sensor detecting halitosis, turning brown for bad breath
- It picks up hydrogen sulphide, the chemical which smells of rotten eggs
- Almost a third of people suffer from halitosis, caused by bacteria build-up
Forget breathing into your hand and nervously sniffing it – there’s a more scientific way to check if your mouth is minty-fresh just before a blind date.
Chemists have developed a sensor which can detect halitosis, turning brown if it is time to swig some mouthwash.
It works by picking up hydrogen sulphide, the chemical which smells of rotten eggs and is a major cause of bad breath.
Chemists have developed a sensor which can detect halitosis, turning brown if it is time to swig some mouthwash
Almost a third of people suffer from halitosis, which is usually caused by bacteria build-up.
Similar sensors have been used to detect hydrogen sulphide leaking from industrial warehouses.
But while these devices detect the gas at between five and ten parts per million in the air, one for bad breath needs to be even more sensitive.
To develop their sensor, the team used lead acetate – a chemical that turns brown when exposed to hydrogen sulphide.
Almost a third of people suffer from halitosis, which is usually caused by bacteria build-up
They then anchored the substance to a ‘nanofibre web’ to provide more locations where it could react with the gas.
The study, published in the journal Analytical Chemistry, states: ‘It is essential to enhance the detection limit down to one part per million of hydrogen sulphide since halitosis patients exhale up to two parts per million of hydrogen sulphide.’
The test was developed by chemists at Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, working with Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
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