Scientists have created an optical breathalyzer that can be built into a smartphone

The problem is that current technologies for determining blood alcohol levels are not suitable for integration into

telephones. Indeed, they are bulky, expensive, difficult to mass produce, and fragile due to the need to replace chemical sensors. 

Вместо того, чтобы пытаться интегрировать the existing technology of breathalyzer into the phone, Canadian researchers wondered if existing components in phones could be used to measure blood alcohol content. This question led them to an interesting invention: an optical breathalyzer built into the phone screen. The principle of operation is based on the evaporation of breathing mist on the screen. When a window becomes fogged, thousands of micro-droplets form on its surface. When the breath contains alcohol, these microdroplets evaporate faster because the alcohol evaporates faster than the water in the breath of a sober person.

Graphic abstraction. Credit: DOI: 10.3390 / s21124076

Researchers have created a prototype with a specialapplication. There is only one component to add to the phone: a photodiode. It's affordable and is often built into modern phones. Scientists have tested to understand the parameters and conditions that can affect measurements.

It turned out that although the technology works wellIn a controlled environment, environmental conditions in the real environment greatly influence the measurements. In the future, scientists plan to correct this shortcoming. Also, after accumulating a large database, scientists plan to use AI to obtain accuracy, “which will convince large phone manufacturers to integrate breathalyzers into screens,” the scientists conclude.

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