Abstract
Water solution of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in air, especially explosive materials, is required to detect VOCs by biosensors efficiently. We developed a collecting device like olfactory mechanism of animals: thin film of water including odorant binding proteins (OBPs), which play a major role in transport of hydrophobic odor molecules to olfactory receptors. Thin liquid film was generated using rimming flow on the inner surface of a rotating glass cylinder. Eugenol was used to simulate an explosive substance. The sample gas including dilute eugenol was collected by the rimming flow device. The experimental results showed that the efficiency for the collection of eugenol increased with the revolution rate of the cylinder. Increase in the efficiency was mainly attributed to the spread of the liquid in the cylinder. The collection efficiency further increased by the adding of both proteins and PBP1 exhibited higher affinity for eugenol.
