Identification of wine defects by means of a miniaturized electronic tongue

Electronic Tongue systems have been widely used during last decades, reaching an high level of performances in the detection and quantification of several matrices, such as for example waters, soft and alcoholic drinks. Next step in research is represented by the miniaturization of these systems: it is made possible by the integration of the knowledge on materials suitable for sensorial purpose and the silicon technology, which allows the development of micro-dimensioned sensors. In this work we report the development of a sensor array composed of 8 electro-polymerized porphyrin based membranes, with an active area exposed to liquid of 0.5 mm2. The miniaturized system, integrated on a single silicon wafer and completed by read-out electronics, was firstly tested towards standard analytes and then applied on real white wine samples for the detection of some analytes mimicking wine defects, namely H2S, SO2 and CH3CO2H.