Stamatios Giannoukos

University of Liverpool | UoL · Department of Electrical Engineering and Electronics

Polymeric bags are a widely applied, simple, and cost-effective method for the storage and offline analysis of gaseous samples. Various materials have been used as sampling bags, all known to contain impurities and differing in their cost, durability, and storage capabilities. Herein, we present a comparative study of several well-known bag materia...

Breath analysis with secondary electrospray ionization (SESI) coupled to mass spectrometry (MS) is a sensitive method for breath metabolomics. To enable quantitative assessments using SESI-MS, a system was developed to introduce controlled amounts of gases into breath samples and carry out standard addition experiments. The system combines gas stan...

Rationale Secondary‐electrospray ionization (SESI) coupled with high‐resolution mass spectrometry is a powerful tool for the discovery of biomarkers in exhaled breath. A primary electrospray consisting of aqueous formic acid (FA) is currently used to charge the volatile organic compounds in breath. To investigate whether alternate electrospray comp...

Ion suppression is a known matrix effect in electrospray ionization (ESI), ambient pressure chemical ionization (APCI), and desorption electrospray ionization (DESI), but its characterization in secondary electrospray ionization (SESI) is lacking. A thorough understanding of this effect is crucial for quantitative applications of SESI, such as brea...

In the modern world, many people are changing old dietary and lifestyle habits to improve the quality of their living—to treat or just prevent possible diseases. The main goal of this pilot study was to assess the food and lifestyle impact on exhaled breath volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in various population groups. It was done by employing a r...

To date, the commonly used methods to assess rumen fermentation are invasive. Exhaled breath contains hundreds of volatile organic compounds (VOC) that can reflect animal physiological processes. In the present study, for the first time, we aimed to use a non-invasive metabolomics approach based on high-resolution mass spectrometry to identify rume...

Quantification of metabolites present within exhaled breath is a major challenge for on-line breath analysis. It is also important for gauging the analytical performance, accuracy, reproducibility, reliability, and stability of the measuring technology. Short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) are of high interest for nutrition and health. Their quantificat...

In this study, we conducted an extensive computational investigation using various theoretical approaches to elucidate the molecular-level interactions between ten representative volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and functionalized graphene nanosheets. Our...

The NO3 radical represents a significant nighttime oxidant which is present downstream of polluted environments. Existing studies have investigated the formation of secondary organic aerosol (SOA) from NO3 radicals, focusing on the yields, general composition, and hydrolysis of organonitrates; however, there is limited knowledge about how the compo...

Secondary electrospray ionization (SESI) mass spectrometry (MS) is a direct infusion technique often used for untargeted metabolomics, e.g., for online breath analysis. SESI is thought to be a soft ionization method, which is important to avoid interference from in-source fragments and to simplify compound annotation. In this work, benzylammonium i...

To elucidate the sources and chemical reaction pathways of organic vapors and particulate matter in the ambient atmosphere, real-time detection of both the gas and particle phase is needed. State-of-the-art techniques often suffer from thermal decomposition, ionization-induced fragmentation, high cut-off size of aerosols or low time resolution. In...

In recent years, the Indian capital city of Delhi has been impacted by very high levels of air pollution, especially during winter. Comprehensive knowledge of the composition and sources of the organic aerosol (OA), which constitutes a substantial fraction of total particulate mass (PM) in Delhi, is central to formulating effective public health po...

This research work describes the development of a novel bioanalytical method for the assessment of food impact on selected exhaled breath volatile organic compounds (VOCs) using a fast and portable screening VOC prototype sensor based on membrane inlet mass spectrometry (MIMS). Method and sensor prototype functionality was verified by obtaining goo...

In recent years, the Indian capital city of Delhi has been impacted by very high levels of air pollution, especially during winters. Comprehensive knowledge of the composition and sources of the organic aerosol (OA), which constitutes a substantial fraction of total particulate mass (PM) in Delhi, is central to formulating effective public health p...

To elucidate the sources and chemical reaction pathways of organic vapors and particulate matter in the ambient atmosphere, real-time detection of both gas and particle phase is needed. State-of-the-art techniques often suffer from thermal decomposition, ionization-induced fragmentation, high cut-off size of aerosols or low time resolution. In resp...

Night-time reactions of biogenic volatile organic compounds (BVOCs) and nitrate radicals (NO3) can lead to the formation of NO3-initiated biogenic secondary organic aerosol (BSOANO3). Here, we study the impacts of light exposure on the chemical composition and volatility of BSOANO3 formed in the dark from three precursors (isoprene, α-pinene, and β...

The NO3 radical represents a significant night-time oxidant present in or downstream of polluted environments. There are studies that investigated the formation of secondary organic aerosol (SOA) from NO3 radicals focusing on yields, general composition, and hydrolysis of organonitrates. However, there is limited knowledge about how the composition...

Night-time reactions of biogenic volatile organic compounds (BVOCs) and nitrate radicals (NO3) can lead to the formation of secondary organic aerosol (BSOANO3). Here we study the impacts of light exposure on the chemical composition and volatility of BSOANO3 formed in the dark from three precursors (isoprene, α-pinene, and β-caryophyllene) in atmos...

On-line measurements of metal emissions in energy conversion systems at very low concentrations are difficult to perform using existing techniques. Metals are of high importance due to their detrimental impact on human health, the environment and various industrial processes and/or equipment. Herewith and for the first time, we report the real-time...

Mycotoxins represent a serious risk for human and animal health. Οchratoxin A (OTA) is a carcinogenic mycotoxin produced by A. carbonarius that constitutes a severe problem for viticulture. In this study, we investigate the development of novel detection and on-line monitoring approaches for the detection of OTA in the feld (i.e. out of the chemica...

Molecular communications (MC) offers an alternative to established methods (i.e., electromagnetic waves), in areas where the latter might prove ineffective (e.g., underwater or underground) due to the environment’s effect on the transmitted signal. In such environments the use of particle (i.e., chemical) based communication may offer a better solu...

Metal emissions are of major environmental and practical concern due to their highly toxic effects on human health and ecosystems. Current technologies available in the market for their detection are typically limited by time-resolution of 1 hour or slower (e.g. via semi-continuous X-ray fluorescence measurements) or non-quantitative (e.g. laser ab...

Molecular communication (MC) is an emerging field where the transmission of information occurs using particles (i.e., molecules, pheromones) instead of electromagnetic (EM) waves. This change in propagation medium opens up new possibilities for MC in areas where EM is inefficient or impossible such as underwater and underground communications. This...

The risk of mycotoxins is a global issue that represents a serious risk for human and animal health. Οchratoxin A (OTA) is a very toxic mycotoxin that constitutes a severe problem for viticulture and taking into account the extreme climatic events that are frequently faced in recent years, the OTA problem is arising in wine and raisins/currants. Oc...

Molecular communication (MC) is the act of information transmission by using particles. However, compared to traditional communication methods, MC is still relatively new, and some parameters have yet to be studied. One of the major issues is the leftover (residue) chemicals from transmissions and, in this study, the effects of flushing on a signal...

Organosulphides are ubiquitous in the natural world and are important in the agriculture, pharmaceuticals and petrochemical sectors. For the first time a lightweight (12 kg), man-portable membrane inlet mass spectrometer (MIMS) has been employed to analyse volatile organosulphur compounds (VOSCs) in the gaseous phase. Monitoring of such compounds i...

A portable mass spectrometer was coupled to a direct inlet membrane (DIM) probe and applied to the direct analysis of active fragrant compounds (3-methylbutyl acetate, 2-methyl-3-furanthiol, methyl butanoate, and ethyl methyl sulfide) in real time. These fragrant active compounds are commonly used in the formulation of flavours and fragrances. Resu...

Molecular communication (MC) involves the transmission of information using particles (i.e., molecules). Research into the field have been dominated by micro-scale and most of the effects of macro-scale communication have yet to be studied. In this paper the modulation and transmission of molecular communication at macro-scale is investigated. As t...

Chemical analysis (detection and monitoring) of VOCs

Chemical analysis (detection and monitoring) of compounds associated with the metabolic activities of an organism is at the cutting edge of science. Volatile metabolomics (volatolomics) are applied in a broad range of applications including: biomedical research (e.g. disease diagnostic tools, personalized healthcare and nutrition, etc.), toxicologi...

This work uses a mobile mass spectrometer (MS) for lab-based monitoring of organic compounds, which are present in highly toxic nuclear waste ponds. This is due to a number of effects that such species have on storage of radioactive waste. The MS system that was used for the tests consists of a quadrupole mass spectrometer (QMS) housed in a portabl...

Molecular communication (MC) is a method where the transmission of information involves the use of molecules rather than electromagnetic (EM) waves. In this paper an open-air transmission MC experiment is conducted to study signal behavior and the noise. A mass spectrometer is used as the detector and an in-house-built odor generator is used as tra...

Molecular communication (MC) is new method of information transmission whereby information is carried by chemical signals instead of electromagnetic (EM) waves. This shift to a new type of information carrier makes MC a viable option in circumstances where EM communication might prove inefficient, e.g., in underwater and underground communications...

Molecular communication (MC) is a method where the transmission of information involves the use of chemicals or molecules instead of electromagnetic (EM) waves. The study of MC to date has mostly focused on the nano (nm) to micro (μm) scale and there have been only a few experimental studies on the subject of macro-scale. In this paper properties o...

We report a novel portable 17 kg system based on a quadrupole mass spectrometer (QMS) with electronics power consumption of 24 W. The system can be used for in-field identification of gases and volatile/semivolatile organic compounds (VOCs/SVOCs). The mass analyser is a custom-made quadrupole mass filter with a Brubaker pre-filter that gives mass r...

Molecular communications in macroscale environments is an emerging field of study driven by the intriguing prospect of sending coded information over olfactory networks. For the first time, this article reports two signal modulation techniques (on-off keying - OOK and concentration shift keying - CSK) which have been used to encode and transmit dig...

On-site chemical sensing of compounds associated with security and terrorist attacks is of worldwide interest. Other related bio-monitoring topics include identification of individuals posing a threat from illicit drugs, explosive manufacturing, as well as searching for victims of human trafficking and collapsed buildings. The current status of fie...

The synthetic generation/coding and transmission of olfactory information over a gas stream or an odor network is a new and unexplored field. Application areas vary from the entertainment or advertisement industry to security and telemedicine. However, current technological limitations frustrate the accurate reproduction of decoded and transmitted...

Field chemical analysis (FCA) of volatile halogenated hydrocarbons is a highly debated topic of widespread interest due to the significant negative impact of these compounds on public health, on ecosystems and in the environment (e. g. destruction of stratospheric ozone). This article reports, for the first time, the use of a unique, lightweight (1...

Border control for homeland security faces major challenges worldwide due to chemical threats from national and/or international terrorism as well as organized crime. A wide range of technologies and systems with threat detection and monitoring capabilities has emerged to identify the chemical footprint associated with these illegal activities. Thi...

A compact portable membrane inlet mass spectrometer (MIMS) has been used for the first time to detect and monitor, both qualitatively and quantitatively, volatile chlorinated hydrocarbons in the gaseous phase. Continuous monitoring of such compounds in the field is of importance due to their wide industrial use and their potential negative impact o...

A man-portable membrane inlet mass spectrometer has been built and tested to detect and monitor characteristic odors emitted from the human body and also from threat substances. In each case, a heated membrane sampling probe was used. During human scent monitoring experiments, data were obtained for inorganic gases and volatile organic compounds em...

This work reports implementation of an optimized linear ion trap (LIT) mass analyzer manufactured using digital light processing (DLP), a low cost rapid prototyping technique. To satisfy requirements for a portable commercial instrument, our previous DLP LIT has been improved by using polymer material for electrodes and housing with higher heat def...

The design, development, and validation of a dynamic vapor generator are presented. The generator simulates human scent (odor) emissions from trapped victims in the voids of collapsed buildings. The validation of the device was carried out using a reference detector: a quadrupole mass spectrometer equipped with a pulsed sampling (PS-MS) system. A s...

This work is an attempt to assist border security crackdown on illegal human immigration, by providing essential results on human chemical signatures. Data was obtained using a portable quadrupole mass spectrometer coupled with a membrane probe for volunteers of both genders and under different conditions in a container simulator. During experiment...

This article presents a novel simulation study for improving the sensitivity of linear ion trap mass spectrometers used for sensing low sample concentrations in field applications. Commercial simulation software using the boundary element method has been used for modeling ion source lens system for externally created ions, which are then injected i...