A Fully Potentiometric Electronic Tongue Enabling Comprehensive Physical and Chemical Sensations

Area of Science:

• Biomimetic sensing
• Sensor technology
• Food science

Background:

• Human taste perception integrates chemical (taste) and physical (temperature, texture) cues.
• Existing electronic tongues (e-tongues) primarily focus on chemical sensing and use complex, power-hungry heterogeneous sensor outputs.
• A gap exists in e-tongue technology for holistic, biomimetic gustatory sensing.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a fully potentiometric, monolithically integrated multimodal e-tongue.
• To enable simultaneous sensing of chemical (salinity, acidity) and physical (temperature, texture, softness) attributes of food.
• To eliminate the need for external power and simplify signal processing through unified potentiometric output.

Main Methods:

• Integration of multiple potentiometric sensors on a single chip.
• Development of sensors capable of self-generating potential difference (mV) output.
• Application of machine learning algorithms for data analysis and food discrimination.

Main Results:

• The multimodal e-tongue successfully sensed both chemical and physical food properties.
• All integrated sensors produced a unified potential difference (mV) output, eliminating external power requirements.
• High accuracy was achieved in discriminating fruits and beverages, outperforming conventional e-tongues.

Conclusions:

• The developed e-tongue offers a practical approach to holistic gustatory sensing.
• The fully potentiometric design simplifies circuitry and reduces power consumption.
• This technology paves the way for advanced biomimetic intelligent systems that closely replicate natural taste perception.