Sensors 2013, 13(1), 1076-1084; doi:10.3390/s130101076
Article

Development of a Portable Taste Sensor with a Lipid/Polymer Membrane

Yusuke Tahara 1,* email, Kenichi Nakashi 2 email, Ke Ji 1 email, Akihiro Ikeda 1 email and Kiyoshi Toko 1 email
1 Graduate School of Information Science and Electrical Engineering, Kyushu University, 744 Motooka, Nishi-ku, Fukuoka 819-0395, Japan 2 Kyushu Institute of Technology, Fukuoka 804-8550, Japan
* Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Received: 14 December 2012; in revised form: 14 January 2013 / Accepted: 14 January 2013 / Published: 16 January 2013
(This article belongs to the Special Issue State-of-the-Art Sensors Technology in Japan 2012)
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Abstract: We have developed a new portable taste sensor with a lipid/polymer membrane and conducted experiments to evaluate the sensor’s performance. The fabricated sensor consists of a taste sensor chip (40 mm × 26 mm × 2.2 mm) with working and reference electrodes and a portable sensor device (80 mm × 25 mm × 20 mm). The working electrode consists of a taste-sensing site comprising a poly(hydroxyethyl)methacrylate (pHEMA) hydrogel layer with KCl as the electrolyte layer and a lipid/polymer membrane as the taste sensing element. The reference electrode comprises a polyvinyl chloride (PVC) membrane layer with a small hole and a pHEMA layer with KCl. The whole device is the size of a USB memory stick, making it suitable for portable use. The sensor’s response to tannic acid as the standard astringency substance showed good accuracy and reproducibility, and was comparable with the performance of a commercially available taste sensing system. Thus, it is possible for this sensor to be used for in-field evaluations and it can make a significant contribution to the food industry, as well as in various fields of research.
Keywords: taste sensor; lipid/polymer membrane; portable sensor; in-field evaluation

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Cite This Article

MDPI and ACS Style

Tahara, Y.; Nakashi, K.; Ji, K.; Ikeda, A.; Toko, K. Development of a Portable Taste Sensor with a Lipid/Polymer Membrane. Sensors 2013, 13, 1076-1084.

AMA Style

Tahara Y, Nakashi K, Ji K, Ikeda A, Toko K. Development of a Portable Taste Sensor with a Lipid/Polymer Membrane. Sensors. 2013; 13(1):1076-1084.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Tahara, Yusuke; Nakashi, Kenichi; Ji, Ke; Ikeda, Akihiro; Toko, Kiyoshi. 2013. "Development of a Portable Taste Sensor with a Lipid/Polymer Membrane." Sensors 13, no. 1: 1076-1084.

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