  The pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by
syndrome-coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) has been found rapid and large-scale
diagnosis to spread across the communities. The risk of infectious airborne
aerosol transmission has been an area of increasing concern. In this regard, a
selective optic detection of SARS-CoV-2 aerosol is highly desirable, which can
actively collect the surrounding air samples and provide real-time feedbacks to
users. In this work, we developed an integrated Air Quality Monitoring System
(iAQMS) that enables real-time SARS-CoV-2 aerosol detection with high
sensitivity. The detection device, inspired by localized surface plasmon
resonance (LSPR), was designed to measure the intensity changes of light going
through our biochips in which gold nanoparticles (AuNP) combined with
antibodies were exposed to airflow containing virus aerosols. We found that the
variation of the measured photocurrent after 350 seconds of exposure to virus
aerosols is a function of virus particle concentrations. By incorporating the
air collection device and the optic detection device into a handheld sized
device that can communicate with a smart-phone through Bluetooth serial, we
demonstrate real-time and sensitive detection of SARS-CoV-2 virus aerosols with
a concentration dynamic range of 0.00001 - 0.1 pfu/uL. Because of its
sensitivity and reliability, our device can also be used for detection of other
virus aerosols by simply switching the antibodies combined to the AuNP in the
biochips.
