Hyderabad: A research team at the University of Hyderabad has been 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.
Acetone can act as a biomarker for metabolic (diabetes) conditions in the bloodstream.
The team was led by Prof AK Chaudhary and Arjun VS Kidavu, senior research scholar, ACRHEM, School of Physics at UoH.
This research holds immense promise for non-invasive medical diagnostics and may revolutionize disease detection.
“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,” stated a press release.
The fabricated Helmholtz PA cell is made of aluminium 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.
Currently, the innovation is under consideration by the DRDO, Ministry of Defense, Govt. of India, patent division and it is 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.
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