Optical CO2 sensing with ionic liquid doped electrospun nanofibers

J Fluoresc. 2011 Mar;21(2):607-13. doi: 10.1007/s10895-010-0748-4. Epub 2010 Oct 14.

Abstract

The first use of electrospun nanofibrous materials as highly responsive fluorescence quenching-based optical CO(2) sensors is reported. Poly(methyl methacrylate) and ethyl cellulose were used as polymeric materials. Sensing slides were fabricated by electrospinning technique. A fiber-optic bundle was used for the gas detection. CO(2) sensors based on the change in the fluorescence signal intensity of ion pair form of 8-hydroxypyrene-1,3,6-trisulfonic acid (HPTS). The sensor slides showed high sensitivities due to the high surface area-to-volume ratio of the nanofibrous membrane structures. The preliminary results of Stern-Volmer analysis show that the sensitivities of electrospun nanofibrous membranes to detect CO(2) are 24 to 120 fold higher than those of the thin film based sensors. The response times of the sensing reagents were short and the signal changes were fully reversible. The stability of ion pair form of HPTS in the employed matrix materials was excellent and when stored in the ambient air of the laboratory there was no significant drift in signal intensity after 7 months. Our stability tests are still in progress.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Absorption
  • Carbon Dioxide / analysis*
  • Cellulose / analogs & derivatives
  • Cellulose / chemistry
  • Ionic Liquids / chemistry*
  • Membranes, Artificial
  • Nanofibers / chemistry*
  • Nanotechnology*
  • Optical Phenomena*
  • Polymethyl Methacrylate / chemistry
  • Pyrenes / chemical synthesis
  • Pyrenes / chemistry
  • Sulfonic Acids / chemical synthesis
  • Sulfonic Acids / chemistry
  • Temperature

Substances

  • 8-hydroxy-1,3,6-pyrenetrisulfonic acid
  • Ionic Liquids
  • Membranes, Artificial
  • Pyrenes
  • Sulfonic Acids
  • Carbon Dioxide
  • ethyl cellulose
  • Cellulose
  • Polymethyl Methacrylate