Chemical images by artificial olfactory epithelia

Creating olfactory images is an attractive method for selective gas analysis. These images can be considered as response patterns of a sensor matrix. The scanning version of the vibrating capacitor has been used as a simple and accurate tool for measuring the adsorption induced change of the work function at the surface of different gas sensing layers. The work function maps (olfactory images) characterise the gas compositions (H2 in air, alcohol vapour, ammonium, and chloroform) over the receptor area (Pd-Ag-Au-Pt-V-Pt-SnO2 and Pt-Pd-Cu-Fe-Ni-Pt strips at different temperatures). The present paper details this new analytical tool and different olfactory images obtained by the scanning Kelvin method.