An investigation into the feasibility of fabrication of an exhaled gas acetone sensor array using inkjet printed nanomaterials for measuring diabetic ketoacidosis

糖尿病酮症酸中毒（DKA）是一种危险的疾病，是1型糖尿病儿童和青少年住院的主要原因，也是发病和死亡的主要原因。血酮的早期诊断有助于预防酮症酸中毒，以及及时治疗。大多数酮体检测是常规进行的，使用试纸条进行尿分析。尿酮试纸是半定量的，患者发现提供尿样是不愉快和不方便的。呼出气丙酮定量检测分析是一种理想的替代方法。在这个可行性项目中，我们建议使用喷墨打印的纳米材料（纳米碳或金属氧化物为基础），并测量其初始性能的呼出气体丙酮传感器阵列的制造的可行性。我们的方法是使用高度敏感的纳米材料和专有的有机聚合物涂层，这些涂层具有高度选择性，对湿度不敏感。

Diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) is a dangerous condition and the leading cause of hospitalization and the main cause of morbidity and death in children and adolescents with type 1 diabetes. Earlier diagnosis of blood ketones facilitates the prevention of ketoacidosis, as well as prompt treatment. Most ketone testing is routinely undertaken using dipstick test strips for urinalysis. Urine ketone strips are semi-quantitative and patients find it unpleasant and inconvenient to provide a urine sample. Quantitative exhaled acetone detection and analysis is an ideal alternative method. In this feasibility project we propose to investigate the feasibility of fabrication of an exhaled gas acetone sensor array using inkjet printed nanomaterials (nano-carbon or metal oxide based) and measure their initial performance. Our approach would be to use highly sensitive nanomaterials and proprietary organic polymer coatings which are highly selective and insensitive to humidity.