UoH research study contributes to the development of acetone detection

This research holds immense promise for non-invasive medical diagnostics and may revolutionize disease detection.

Hyderabad: A research team led by Prof. A.K. Chaudhary and Arjun V.S. Kidavu, Senior Research Scholar, ACRHEM, School of Physics, University of Hyderabad, was successful in designing and developing a High “Q” Helmholtz Photoacoustic (PA) cell sensor with a movable piston arrangement for the low-level detection of acetone biomarker.

This research holds immense promise for non-invasive medical diagnostics and may revolutionize disease detection.

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The natural frequency of the cell is tunable between 1.4 to 4.4 kHz and has an impressive maximum Q factor of 492.3 at 0.11 THz frequency for the first time, according to a press release.

The fabricated Helmholtz PA cell is made of aluminum and has proven to be an extraordinary tool for acetone detection, a vital biomarker in diagnosing various diseases such as diabetes, asthma, lung cancer, etc. The use of this cell is also extended for the detection of trace explosives and atmospheric pollutants, volatile solvents, etc. The design has the flexibility to use UV-VIS -mid IR-THz radiation.

The reported innovation is currently under consideration by the DRDO, Ministry of Defense, Govt. of India, patent division (under the final stage of notification).

The work is published in the recent issue of Spectrochimica Acta A: Molecular and Biomolecular Spectroscopy 2023-07-28.