Ant-inspired e-nose promises to sniff out food freshness, disease
Marie Donlon | January 16, 2025A team of scientists at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) has created an electronic nose that promises to sniff out mechanical damage in apples before bruising appears, detect diseases through a patient’s breath, monitor food freshness in real-time across supply chains and identify hazardous gases in industrial settings using just a single sensor.
The device, called the “Ant-nose,” relies on antenna technology to create an artificial sense of smell that its developers suggest could potentially match or exceed both human and canine olfactory abilities.
Because users are constantly surrounded by technology that relies on antenna technology, the widespread presence of antennas in everyday devices, such as mobile phones, computers and TVs, provides an existing infrastructure that could support the development of this new sensing technology, the researchers explained.
Unlike traditional electronic noses, or e-noses, that require arrays of different sensors — sometimes hundreds of them — that are coated with specific materials to detect various gases, which, consequently, make these both very power-intensive to operate and expensive to manufacture, the new antenna sensor reportedly features just one antenna with just one type of coating.
The team explained that the Ant-nose transmits radio signals at different frequencies and analyzes how they’re reflected back. Because the reflections create distinct patterns according to the gases present — much like chemical fingerprints — the device can subsequently detect volatile organic compounds (VOCs), which are gases that evaporate at low temperatures and are present throughout the environment — think everything from freshly cut grass to gasoline fumes.
Importantly, the device can distinguish between isomers, which are chemical compounds that researchers describe as being “a bit like twins: very similar, yet not identical.” The Ant-nose can reportedly differentiate among these molecularly similar compounds and achieved a 96.7% rate of accuracy in distinguishing among six different VOCs, including pairs of isomers.
The NTNU Ant-nose might eventually be used in applications such as food quality monitoring, industrial safety and environmental protection.
In the lab, the device was used to assess apple damage by monitoring chemical emissions after applying pressure similar to what fruit might incur during shipping. The device reportedly distinguished between damaged and undamaged apples, thereby proving its potential for food transport monitoring.
Further, the team used the device to examine strawberries, grapes and pork samples, detecting the chemical changes that occur as food ages. The device successfully differentiated between fresh food items and foods stored for five days.
The Ant nose is also being eyed for future medical applications such as disease detection.
The Ant-nose is detailed in the article, “Facile E-nose based on single antenna and graphene oxide for sensing volatile organic compound gases with ultrahigh selectivity and accuracy,” which appears in the journal Sensors and Actuators: B. Chemical.