TAGRA 2025

This study presents a cost-effective and innovative ethylene gas detection system designed to monitor fruit ripening and minimize postharvest losses. The system integrates a commercial MQ135 gas sensor with a single fabricated TiO₂-based sensor to detect ethylene gas through voltage variations under controlled parameters. The TiO₂ sensor was fabricated and characterized to evaluate its electrical properties, exhibiting a resistance value of 557.90 MΩ, indicating high sensitivity and stability. Experiments were conducted inside a custom-designed 3D-printed gas chamber at room temperature.Five selected fruits such as banana, mango, papaya, pear, and apple with weight of 20 gram were tested and monitored continuously for 85 hours. Real-time voltage data were transmitted to the Blynk Internet of Things (IoT) platform and automatically recorded in Google Sheets for continuous analysis. A cobalt(II) chloride test paper was also used as a colorimetric indicator to provide a visual confirmation of ethylene gas presence. Based on sensing response analysis, the TiO₂ sensor exhibited superior performance compared to the MQ135 sensor across all fruit samples. The sensing responses for MQ135 and TiO₂ were 96.97% and 95.45% for banana, 97.50% and 98.79% for apple, 82.14% and 87.88% for papaya, 84.00% and 90.91% for pear, and 74.19% and 82.42% for mango, respectively. The sensing response for MQ135 was approximately 96.97%, 97.50%, 82.14%, 84.00%, and 74.19% for banana, apple, papaya, pear, and mango, respectively. Whereas TiO₂ sensor exhibited sensing response of 95.45%, 98.79%, 87.88%, 90.91%, and 82.42% for banana, apple, papaya, pear, and for mango, respectively. These findings revealed that the fabricated TiO₂ sensor demonstrates better responsiveness and selectivity toward ethylene gas, making it a more efficient and reliable choice for real-time fruit ripening and spoilage monitoring through IoT-based smart sensing technology.