Gas emission from human skin positions detected by vertical-channel organic semiconductor sensor

•Human skin gas sensing by sensitive organic semiconductor gas sensor.•The highest signal from palms detected by healthy people,4 men and 4 women.•Using three organic material sensors to analyze human skin gas, the dominant component from the palm has different pattern from ammonia.•Gas chromatography study suggests aldehydes in the palm gas. [Display omitted] The gas emitted from the human skin is collected and measured by the highly sensitive room-temperature organic semiconductor gas sensor with vertical electrical channel. Among various positions, palms give the highest signal and heads follow. The signals are collected from 4 healthy men and 4 healthy women. The response is defined as the percent of electric current change at 5 V in 30 s after the measurement. By comparing the responses from sensors made by three different organic materials, the dominant component from the palm has different pattern from ammonia. Gas chromatography study suggests aldehydes in the palm gas. Different people show consistent results but slightly depending on sex. The body skin measurement can be extended to patients in order to establish the connection between skin gas and the diseases situations.