Breath analysis by nanostructured metal oxides as chemo-resistive gas sensors

Abstract

Recently breath analysis has attracted a lot of attention for disease monitoring and clinical diagnostics as spectrometric techniques of high sophistication and novel sensing materials become available. Here advances in these technologies in connection to breath analysis are critically reviewed. A number of breath markers or tracer compounds are summarized and related to different diseases, either for diagnostics or for monitoring. Emphasis is placed on chemo-resistive gas sensors for their low cost and portability highlighting their potential and challenges for breath analysis as they start to be used in studies involving humans.