A Comparative Study of Optical Sensing Methods for Colourimetric Bio/Chemical Detection: Cost, Scale, and Performance.

Cormac D Fay, Liang Wu, Isabel M Perez de Vargas Sansalvador

Abstract read

In one paragraph

Article in Sensors (Basel, Switzerland), 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it

0cells of the map it votes in

1citing papers in PubMed

–field-weighted citation impact

1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

Smartphone-based optical and spectroscopic sensors for food safety monitoring: principles, applications, and future directions.Mikrochimica acta · 2026
Review

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors.

Cormac D FaySchool of Medical, Indigenous and Health Sciences, Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW 2522, Australia.ORCID 0000-0001-9104-5527

Liang WuMelbourne Centre for Nanofabrication (MCN), Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Monash University, 22 Alliance Lane, Clayton, VIC 3168, Australia.ORCID 0000-0001-7375-9390

Isabel M Perez de Vargas SansalvadorElectronic and Chemical Sensing Solutions (ECsens), Department of Analytical Chemistry, University of Granada, 18071 Granada, Spain.ORCID 0000-0002-3666-3231

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

This study provides a detailed comparison of three optical sensing approaches for colourimetric bio/chemical detection, focusing on cost, scalability, and performance. We examine laboratory-grade spectrophotometry, portable camera-based imaging, and low-cost LED photometry using Paired Emitter-Detector Diode (PEDD) charge-discharge methodology. Our findings reveal that while the LED-based PEDD system outperforms the other two methods in key sensory metrics-such as sensitivity, resolution, and limit of detection-its cost-effectiveness and scalability make it a promising solution for widespread industrial and field applications. Compared to the spectrophotometer, the LED/PEDD approach demonstrates improvements in measurement range (×16.39), dynamic range (×147.06), accuracy (×1.79), and sensitivity (×107.53). The results highlight the potential for industrial-scale adoption of LED photometry, especially for cost-effective applications in bio/chemical sensing sectors.

Indexed as

bio/chemicalcolourimetriccomparisonimagingLEDPEDDsensing

Identifiers

PMID40648109

DOI10.3390/s25133850

PMCPMC12251617

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.