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Vol. 13 (2021)

Sniffing Bacteria with a Carbon-Dot Artificial Nose

https://doi.org/10.1007/s40820-021-00610-w
Nitzan Shauloff
Department of Chemistry, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, 84105 Beer Sheva, Israel
Ahiud Morag
Department of Chemistry, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, 84105 Beer Sheva, Israel
Karin Yaniv
Department of Biotechnology Engineering, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, 84105 Beer Sheva, Israel
Seema Singh
Department of Chemistry, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, 84105 Beer Sheva, Israel
Ravit Malishev
Department of Chemistry, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, 84105 Beer Sheva, Israel
Ofra Paz‑Tal
Chemistry Department, Nuclear Research Center, Negev, P.O. Box 9001, 84190 Beer Sheva, Israel
Lior Rokach
Department of Software and Information System Engineering, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva, Israel
Raz Jelinek
Department of Chemistry, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, 84105 Beer Sheva, Israel

Corresponding Author: Raz Jelinek

razj@bgu.ac.il

Nano-Micro Letters, Vol. 13 (2021), Article Number: 112

Abstract

Continuous, real-time monitoring and identification of bacteria through detection of microbially emitted volatile molecules are highly sought albeit elusive goals. We introduce an artificial nose for sensing and distinguishing vapor molecules, based upon recording the capacitance of interdigitated electrodes (IDEs) coated with carbon dots (C-dots) exhibiting different polarities. Exposure of the C-dot-IDEs to volatile molecules induced rapid capacitance changes that were intimately dependent upon the polarities of both gas molecules and the electrode-deposited C-dots. We deciphered the mechanism of capacitance transformations, specifically substitution of electrode-adsorbed water by gas molecules, with concomitant changes in capacitance related to both the polarity and dielectric constants of the vapor molecules tested. The C-dot-IDE gas sensor exhibited excellent selectivity, aided by application of machine learning algorithms. The capacitive C-dot-IDE sensor was employed to continuously monitor microbial proliferation, discriminating among bacteria through detection of distinctive “volatile compound fingerprint” for each bacterial species. The C-dot-IDE platform is robust, reusable, readily assembled from inexpensive building blocks and constitutes a versatile and powerful vehicle for gas sensing in general, bacterial monitoring in particular.


Highlights:


1 Novel artificial nose based upon electrode-deposited carbon dots (C-dots). Significant selectivity and sensitivity determined by “polarity matching” between the C-dots and gas molecules.
2 The C-dot artificial nose facilitates, for the first time, real-time, continuous monitoring of bacterial proliferation and discrimination among bacterial species, both between Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria and between specific strains.
3 Machine learning algorithm furnishes excellent predictability both in the case of individual gases and for complex gas mixtures.

Keywords

Carbon dots Bacterial detection Bacterially emitted volatile molecules Capacitive gas sensors Gas polarity
Shauloff, Nitzan, Ahiud Morag, Karin Yaniv, Seema Singh, Ravit Malishev, Ofra Paz‑Tal, Lior Rokach, and Raz Jelinek. 2021. “Sniffing Bacteria With a Carbon-Dot Artificial Nose”. Nano-Micro Letters 13 (April):112. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40820-021-00610-w.
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