Organic gas sensor with an improved lifetime for detecting breath

ammonia in hemodialysis patients

Ming-Yen Chuang1, Chang-Chiang Chen2,3,*, Hsiao-Wen Zan1,*, Hsin-Fei Meng4,*,
and Chia-Jung Lu5
1
Department of Photonics, College of Electrical and Computer Engineering, National Chiao Tung
University, 1001, Ta Hsueh Rd., 300 Hsinchu, Taiwan
2
Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Nephrology, National Taiwan University Hospital
Hsin-Chu Branch, 25, Ln.442, Sec.1, Jingguo Rd., 300 Hsinchu, Taiwan
3
Department of Biological Science and Technology, National Chiao Tung University
4
Institute of Physics, National Chiao Tung University, 1001, Ta Hsueh Rd., 300 Hsinchu, Taiwan
5
Department of Chemistry, National Taiwan Normal University, 162, Heping East Rd., Section 1, 106
Taipei, Taiwan

* Hsiao-Wen Zan: hsiaowen@mail.nctu.edu.tw Fax:+886-3-5737681

* Chang-Chiang Chen: cck85515@yahoo.com.tw
* Hsin-Fei Meng: meng@mail.nctu.edu.tw

Abstract
The supporting information includes the figure of the SEM images of P3HT,
NPB and TAPC sensors, the sensing response of TFB sensor to main components in
human breath, the figure of the sensing response of a TFB sensor as a function of
ammonia concentration, the details of HD patient’s inclusion criteria and sampling,
the illustration of current flow in TFB sensor and the energy band diagram, the figure
of real-time current sensing of a TFB sensor under different applied voltages and a
table of subject characteristics and metabolic parameters.

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The SEM image of P3HT, NPB and TAPC sensor:

Figure S-1. The SEM image of (a)P3HT, (b)NPB and (c)TAPC sensor. The scale
bar represents 500 nm.

The sensing response of TFB sensor to main components in human breath:

Figure S-2. The sensing response of TFB sensor to ammonia, acetone, ethanol,
nitric oxide, carbon dioxide and isoprene.

The sensing response as a function of ammonia concentration:

For testing a known concentration of ammonia, a high concentration of 100-ppm
ammonia was first extracted from a gas cylinder (bought from Sinda Gases Co., Ltd)
into a syringe. By injecting 100-ppm ammonia with a syringe pump, the ammonia
would be diluted by the background dry air before entering the sensing chamber. The
ammonia concentration then can be well controlled by adjusting the ratio between
injection rate and the background flow.

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Figure S-3. The sensing response of a TFB sensor as a function of ammonia
concentration. The sensing response is defined by the ratio between the change of
current and the initial current. The ammonia concentration ranging is from
30-ppb to 2000-ppb.

Patients and sampling:

We recruited stable HD patients without hospitalization, receiving percutaneous
transluminal angioplasty for arteriovenous fistula(AVF) stenosis, or acute thrombosis
of AVF within a month before the study started. The inclusion criteria were HD via
AVF, HD session of 4 hours 3 times a week, age between 20 to 80 years, dialysis
vintage of at least three months. The exclusion criteria were a history of hepatitis,
liver cirrhosis, infection diseases, or cancers. Three consecutive samples of
mouth-exhaled breath were collected before the start of HD(predialysis) and at the
end of HD(postdialysis) respectively. Blood withdrawal for biochemistry test,
including BUN, was done at the same time as breath ammonia measurements were
carried out. Breath samples were immediately checked for ammonia concentrations
by the TFB sensor. The data were presented as mean ± standard deviation. Paired
t-test was used to compare the differences between pre- and postdialysis values of the
breath ammonia concentrations and the BUN levels by Excel 2013, Microsoft.
Pearson’s correlation coefficient and simple linear regression were also used to
evaluate the correlation between the breath ammonia concentrations and the BUN
levels by Excel 2013, Microsoft.

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The illustration of current flow in TFB sensor and the energy band diagram:

Figure S-4. (a) The illustration of current flow in the sensor. (b) The energy band
diagram of TFB sensor.

The real-time current sensing of a TFB sensor under different applied voltages:

Figure S-5. The real-time current sensing of TFB sensors under (a)6V, (b)8V and
(c)10V applied voltage. The exposed ammonia concentration is fixed on the
100-ppb.

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Table S-1. Subject characteristics and metabolic parameters
N=40
Sex F: 19(47.5%)
M: 21(52.5%)
Age, year-old 60.58 ± 11.50
BMI 22.87 ± 3.01
3 3
WBC, 10 /mm 6.67 ± 1.76
HgB, g/dL 11.48 ± 1.06
Albumin, g/dL 4.12 ± 0.28
ALT 14.17 ± 6.36
Predialysis BUN, mg/dL 77.2 ± 21.67
Postdialysis BUN 18.48 ± 4.75
Predialysis bNH3, ppb 2204.30 ± 1470.52
Postdialysis bNH3, ppb 208.33 ± 300.92
Glucose, mg/dL 129.63 ± 48.77
Creatinine, mg/dL 11.88 ± 1.74
2
eGFR, ml/min/1.73 m 4.19 ± 0.88
URR 0.76 ± 0.05
Kt/V (Daugirdas) 1.69 ± 0.24
Smoking/non-smoking 2/38
Results are reported as Mean±SD.
BMI: body mass index, WBC: white blood cell count, HgB: hemoglobin,
ALT: alanine aminotransferase, BUN: blood urea nitrogen, bNH3: breath ammonia,
eGFR: estimated glomerular filtration rate, URR: urea reduction ratio

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