The Selective Detection of Individual Respiratory Droplets in Air.

ABSTRACT: Preventing the spread of airborne diseases in crowded indoor spaces is a global challenge. Infected individuals release virus-laden respiratory droplets (RDs) that can remain suspended in air and infectious for hours. Current monitoring methods cannot distinguish these droplets from airborne particulate matter (PM) in a real time. Here, we present a capacitive sensor that selectively detects and counts the individual droplets in indoor spaces, regardless the presence of PM. The device exploits the dielectric constant (ε) of water (78.2) to differentiate the droplets from solid PM particles (ε < 15). In a nonventilated conference-room study, RDs concentrations (40-330 RDs/L) were found to be correlated with human occupancy, but not with PM_2.5 levels. The developed technology enab

SUBMITTER: Malok M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12836340 | biostudies-literature | 2026 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature