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A low-cost optical sensor to quantify bioactive compounds in fruit

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Abstract

This paper discusses the design, development and construction of a low cost system to measure plant-based bioactive compounds. The proposed system uses a light emitting diode (LED), an optical filter, a cuvette holder, a photodiode, an electronic board and a mechanical structure. The results are based on transmittance and reflectance absorptiometric measurements. In order to evaluate the sensitivity of the prototype sensor it was tested against a commercial spectrophotometer. The two systems measured the bioactive compounds of a variety of different fruits (acerola, pineapple, plum, atemoya, banana, cashew apple, kiwi, pitomba, sapodilla, yellow mombin and grape). The coefficient r of the two systems were similar (r = 0.99 for total polyphenols, r = 0.95 for total flavonoids, r = 0.99 for ascorbic acid). Nevertheless, further research is required to improve the precision of this optical sensor, which has significant potential for industrial applications.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowledge CNPq (National Council for Scientific and Technological Development), CAPES (Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel) and FUNCAP (Ceara State Agency for Technology and Scientific Development) for the providing financial support for this study.

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Author notes

  1. All the authors contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Photonics Laboratory, Department of Telecommunications, Federal Institute of Education, Science and Technology of Ceará, Av. 13 de Maio, Fortaleza, CE, 2081, Brazil

    João Isaac Silva Miranda, Hilton Andrade Pinho, Lucas Pinheiro de Moura & Glendo de Freitas Guimarães

  2. Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Federal University of Ceará, Av. Mr. Hull 2297 Bl. 907, Campus do Pici, Fortaleza, CE, Brazil

    Mônica Maria de Almeida Lopes, Kellina Oliveira de Souza, Marcela Cristina Rabelo & Maria Raquel Alcântara de Miranda

  3. Department of Food Engineering, Federal University of Ceará, Av. Mr. Hull 2297 Bl. 858, Campus do Pici, Fortaleza, CE, Brazil

    Kaliana Sitonio Eça & Luciana de Siqueira Oliveira

Authors
  1. João Isaac Silva Miranda
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  2. Mônica Maria de Almeida Lopes
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  3. Kellina Oliveira de Souza
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  4. Hilton Andrade Pinho
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  5. Marcela Cristina Rabelo
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  6. Lucas Pinheiro de Moura
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  7. Kaliana Sitonio Eça
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  8. Maria Raquel Alcântara de Miranda
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  9. Luciana de Siqueira Oliveira
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  10. Glendo de Freitas Guimarães
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Correspondence to Glendo de Freitas Guimarães.

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Miranda, J.I.S., Lopes, M.M.A., de Souza, K.O. et al. A low-cost optical sensor to quantify bioactive compounds in fruit. Food Measure 14, 3580–3589 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11694-020-00601-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11694-020-00601-2

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