

Essential oils (EOs) have a long tradition of use in the medical and cosmetic fields based on their versatile properties, including fungicidal, antiparasitic, and bactericidal effects. Nowadays, with the development of industry and electronics, EOs are increasingly being used in the agricultural and food industries; health industries, including pharmacy and dental medicine; and as cosmetic enhancements. The purpose of this study is to develop a compact and portable platform for the detection of EO type and the concentration levels using knitted silver threads. The method is based on measuring the variation in values of the electrical parameters of the silver threads using electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). The impedance of the solutions applied on the testing platform was measured in the frequency range from 1 Hz to 200 kHz. The platform was tested using three types of essential oils: tea tree; clary sage; and cinnamon bark oil. Increasing the concentration of essential oils resulted in increasing the electrical resistance of the platform, decreasing the capacitance, and consequently increasing the impedance. The proposed cost-effective platform can be used for the fast determination of the type and quality of essential oils. © 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
| Funding sponsor | Funding number | Acronym |
|---|---|---|
| Horizon 2020 Framework Programme See opportunities by H2020 | 854194,872370 | H2020 |
Funding: This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement 872370.
Acknowledgments: A.S. and M.S. would like to thank the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program grant agreement 854194 for funding. The authors would like to thank Igor Antić from the Faculty of Technology, University of Novi Sad, for conducting the GCMS measurement.
Kojic, T.; Naturality Research & Development, Terrassa, Spain;
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