N2O is known as laughing gas, first synthesized in 1775 by Joseph Priestley. N2O mixed with 30% O2 is used as a harmless anaesthetic and is valued for its anti-anxiety effect. But, these days, the entertaining use of N2O is rapidly increasing in the party and festival world. After inhaling a high dose of N2O, a person feels dizziness due to a lack of oxygen, which can be enhanced by the simultaneous consumption of alcohol. Thus, a 30 min exposure to pure N2O can lead to traffic accidents. Thus, a portable, easy-to-use breath sensor for N2O is in demand, like an alcohol detector. There are electrochemical sensors that react with a target gas generating an electrical signal that is proportional to the gas concentration.

We introduce a disruptive technology called magneto-electrochemistry, combining both the electrical and magnetic energy sources to detect N2O with high efficiency and sensitivity. We are trying to develop a breath sensor containing magnetic nanoparticles embedded in a carbon surface, acting as a sensing electrode for N2O gas in the presence of a weak magnetic field. Together with a weak magnetic field, magnetic particles of Nickel oxide can induce and enhance the conductivity of the magnetic particles, increasing the analyte response at the electrode interface and manipulating the spin of the magnetic particles (sensing element) to facilitate the mechanistic step. Both effects concomitantly help to make the sensing process fast and sensitive compared to general electrochemical sensors. The device electrodes can be fabricated keeping a gas inlet with the help of screen-printing technology with solid-state electrolytes containing an embedded electromagnet. The magneto-electrochemical sensing process of N2O can be investigated in real-time breath samples with voltammetry and impedance spectroscopy. Smartphones can be coupled with embedded sensors to make them a regular monitoring unit for an individual’s health and well-being with negligible additional costs.