20.500.12556/RUL-178331 The selective detection of individual respiratory droplets in air Preventing the spread of airborne diseases in crowded indoor spaces is a global challenge. Infected individuals release virus-laden respiratory droplets (RDs) that can remain suspended in air and infectious for hours. Current monitoring methods cannot distinguish these droplets from airborne particulate matter (PM) in a real time. Here, we present a capacitive sensor that selectively detects and counts the individual droplets in indoor spaces, regardless the presence of PM. The device exploits the dielectric constant (ε) of water (78.2) to differentiate the droplets from solid PM particles (ε < 15). In a nonventilated conference-room study, RDs concentrations (40–330 RDs/L) were found to be correlated with human occupancy, but not with PM$_{2.5}$ levels. The developed technology enables a real-time monitoring of number concentration of RDs, which represent a potential health risk when they carry viral or bacterial infections. The detected increase in RD concentration can serve as a trigger for data-driven ventilation and infection-prevention measures, providing an effective tool for mitigating the spread of respiratory diseases in hospitals, schools and other public spaces. respiratory droplets capacitive sensing indor air monitoring infection control airborne transmission atmospheric chemistry electrical properties infectious diseases liquids nanoparticles kapljice izdihanega zraka zrak v zaprtih prostorih monitoring zraka nadzor okužb aerogene okužbe detektorji true false true Angleški jezik Slovenski jezik Članek v reviji 2026-01-23 10:06:00 2026-01-23 10:06:05 2026-01-24 04:32:39 0000-00-00 00:00:00 2026 0 0 Str. 55–62 iss. 1 Vol. 11 2026 0000-00-00 Zaloznikova Objavljeno NiDoloceno 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 53 2379-3694 10.1021/acssensors.5c02057 263994627 the-selective-detection-of-individual-respiratory-droplets-in-.pdf the-selective-detection-of-individual-respiratory-droplets-in-.pdf 1 328DB3DB036842E4CAD56AB33F73C4C3 0ba3a7bfd5d62d95e245660ae3d4478e873198bb90d7f32d8a2437e765e58e8d 6554bcad-f83b-11f0-a1ba-0050569b8976 https://repozitorij.uni-lj.si/Dokument.php?lang=slv&id=226082 https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acssensors.5c02057 1 c086515c-f83a-11f0-a1ba-0050569b8976 https://repozitorij.uni-lj.si/Dokument.php?lang=slv&id=226079 Fakulteta za matematiko in fiziko 0 0 0