Development of novel gas sensors

Abstract

Of all human senses our ability to detect odours may be the least appreciated and certainly the least understood [1], and yet is one o f the most powerful. Humans can only see a narrow region o f the light spectrum (300-700 ran), hear a small range in the frequency spectrum (20-20KHz), touch objects that are close. The smell and taste o f substances however can give us much more information about an objects nature. However quantifying these senses is difficult. The taste o f substances has been provisionally classed as being Sour, Bitter, Sweet or Salty. Smells have been classed as being camphoraceous, ethereal, floral, minty, musky, pungent or putrid [2], but this has been described as being over simplistic [3], Therefore to mimic the nose it is necessary to understand how the nose function