Oct 26, 2020 13:00:00

Introducing 'Chilica-pod', a pepper-type device that can measure the spiciness of peppers with a smartphone

The

Scoville value, which is the standard for the spiciness of peppers, is measured by a test in which the extract of peppers is dissolved in sugar water until the subject does not feel the spiciness. In recent years, a measurement method using an expensive instrument called high performance liquid chromatography has also been used. Instead of these measurement methods, it was announced that a portable device that can easily measure the spiciness just by connecting it to a smartphone has appeared.

N-Doped Graphene Nanoplatelets for Direct Capsaicin Detection in Chili Pepper Samples | ACS Applied Nano Materials
https://pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.1021/acsanm.0c02079

Chili-shaped device could reveal just how hot that pepper is --American Chemical Society
https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/pressroom/presspacs/2020/acs-presspac-october-21-2020/chili-shaped-device-could-reveal-just-how-hot-that- pepper-is.html

Capsaicin , which is the main component of the spiciness of peppers, is not only popular as a spice, but also has various health benefits such as antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and carcinogenesis-suppressing effects. Demand for additives and pharmaceuticals is increasing. However, in order to accurately quantify the spiciness of peppers and foods using peppers, it has been necessary to measure with expensive and large-scale equipment.

Therefore, Warakorn Limbut, a professor of analytical chemistry at Prince of Songkla University in Thailand, set out to develop a method for measuring capsaicin content accurately and inexpensively. On October 21, 2020, we announced that we have succeeded in developing a pepper-type portable device 'Chilica-pod' that can be used by connecting to a smartphone.

The disposable sensor part of Chilica-pod uses graphene nanoplates coated with nitrogen atoms to improve conductivity. When capsaicin touches this sensor, an electric current is generated by the oxidation reaction and reduction reaction, and by detecting this, the capsaicin content is measured.

When Limbut's research team actually dissolved 6 dried pepper samples in ethanol and measured the capsaicin concentration with 10 Chilica-pod sensors, it was able to measure accurately in the range of 7.5 to 90

micromolars. It was said that. In addition, tests using diluted samples confirmed that capsaicin concentrations of 0.37 micromolar could be detected.

'The Chilica-pod measurements were not significantly different from those measured by UV-Visible spectroscopy , so the platform is a portable sensor for capsaicin and a variety of materials in the future,' the research team said in a paper. It shows great potential for the development of sensors that can expand the scope of analysis. '