Feasibility study of doped SnO₂ nanomaterial for electronic nose towards sensing biomarkers of lung cancer

In this study electrochemical sensors, based on undoped and doped (Cr, Mn, Cu and Zn) SnO₂ as a sensing electrode material, were fabricated and used to detect acetone (10–600 ppb) and toluene (1–40 ppb). The sol–gel synthesized nanomaterial was characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), UV–Visible (UV–Vis) spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and Contact angle (CA). Electrochemical sensing characteristics were determined from the Cyclic Voltammetry (CV), Differential Pulse Voltammetry (DPV) and Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopic analysis (EIS). The electrochemical results reveal that the sensors’ response to acetone was highest with copper doping whereas in case of toluene sensing zinc dopants showed highest sensitivity. This work demonstrated that acetone and toluene sensing is selective with copper and zinc doping and these doped SnO₂ nanomaterials can be used for the formation of array/electronic nose and help in simultaneous detection of acetone and toluene both.