Optical waveguide sensor of volatile organic compounds based on PTA thin film

In this study, a sensitive optical waveguide (OWG) sensor for the detection and identification of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) was reported. The sensing membrane is constructed by immobilization of peroxopolytungsten acid (PTA) thin film over a single-mode potassium ion (K⁺) exchanged glass OWG by spin-coating method. A laser beam was coupled into and out of the glass optical waveguide using prism couplers, and dry air functioned as a carrier gas. The sensor was tested for various volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and it showed higher response to the chlorobenzene gas compared to other VOCs. Therefore, we used the OWG sensor to detect chlorobenzene gas as a typical example of VOCs. The sensor exhibits a linear response to chlorobenzene gas in the range of 0.4-1000 ppm with rapid response and good reversibility. The constructed sensor is easy to fabricate and it has some unique qualities which can be characterized as inexpensive, sensitive, and reusable.     

Internally-referenced resonant mirror for chemical and biochemical sensing

The resonant mirror sensor is a planar optical sensor platform that uses frustrated total internal reflection to couple light into and out of a leaky waveguiding layer. The evanescent wave associated with the dielectric structure is very sensitive to changes in surface refractive index caused by the binding of macromolecules to immobilised proteins or other biorecognition species such as antibodies. However, such variations can also be generated by variations in the bulk analyte solution, via changes in the composition or temperature. In the device described here, an additional buried resonant mirror layer is incorporated into the sensor structure generating an internal reference resonant mirror. The efficacy of this internal reference system is demonstrated in both chemical and immunological systems--as a pH sensor monitoring the absorption of an encapsulated sulfonephthalein dye, and as a refractive index sensor measuring the adsorption of anti-protein A and binding of its corresponding antigen. In both cases the internally referenced resonant mirror provides a means by which errors due to fluctuations in light intensity, temperature and bulk composition may be accounted for.     

基于石墨烯光子晶体光纤的流体传感器

与传统的传感器设备阵列相比,由于结构更为简单,具有广泛检测兼容性的光纤系统逐渐成为分布式监测的有力候选者。然而,受工作机制的限制,大多数光纤传感器仍局限于对折射率等物理参数进行探测,一种用于环境化学监测的全光纤分布式传感系统亟待研发。本工作中,我们向化学气相沉积法生长的石墨烯光子晶体光纤(Gr-PCF)中引入了一种化学传感机制。初步结果表明,石墨烯光子晶体光纤可以选择性地检测浓度为ppb级的二氧化氮气体,并在液体中表现出离子敏感性。石墨烯光子晶体光纤与光纤通信系统的波分、时分复用技术结合后,将为实现分布式光学传感环境问题提供巨大的潜力和机会。     

Cyclodextrin Polymer Films Optical Waveguide Sensor for Volatile Organic Gas Detection

A sensitive optical waveguide(OWG) sensor which can be used to detect volatile organic compounds(VOCs) was presented. The sensing device(element) was fabricated by means of the immobilization of polyvinyl pyrrolidone(PVP)-cyclodextrin(CD) composite film over a single-mode potassium ion exchanged glass OWG via spin-coating method. The sensor shows higher response to styrene gas than to other VOCs and displays a linear response to styrene gas in a range of 1-1000 μL/L.     

Microscopic Evaluation of Acid-Etched Optical Fibers

Abstract

Optical and scanning electron microscopy were used to examine the changes in the surface morphology of optical fibers as a result of acid etching. The resulting surface modifications are modeled and the resulting structures are considered as alternatives to conventional fibers for chemical sensor development. Hydrofluoric acid (HF) etching has been performed on the tips of flat-end graded index fibers, and spherical-end graded and step index fibers. The acid treatment caused the formation of a cone-shaped hollow in the center of graded index fiber tips. This structure provides a surface area enhancement of up to 5.3-fold over untreated fibers. In addition, this cone-shaped cavity provides a sub-nanoliter reservoir in which reagent can be held at the sensing tip of the fiber. Spherical-end fibers provide surface area increases of up to 35-fold compared to flat-end fibers. With spherical-end step index fibers, HF etches the cladding, but not the core, thereby providing an even greater surface area for reagent immobilization. The potential utility of these acid etched fibers for the development of fiber-optic chemical sensors (FOCS) is discussed.     

Graphene-Based Waveguides: Novel Method for Detecting Biological Activity

We demonstrate the fabrication of a biosensor based on graphene coupled with polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) waveguide. Biosensors work on the principle of local evanescent graphene-coupled wave sensor. It is observed that the evanescent field shifts in the presence of chemical or biological species as evanescent waves are extremely sensitive to a change in refractive index. This method helps to monitor the target analyte by attaching the selective receptor molecules to the surface of the PDMS optical waveguide resulting in its optical intensity distribution shift. We monitor the electrical properties of graphene in the dark and under illumination of PDMS waveguide. The changes in photocurrent through the graphene film were monitored for blue, green, and red light. We observed that the fabricated graphene-coupled PDMS optical waveguide sensor is sensitive to visible light for the used bioanalytes.     

A reflectometric sensor for ammonia and hydrocarbons

Summary Optical reflection measurements in the visible wavelength range may be used for fast analysis of changes in optical thickness of thin polymer layers caused by swelling of the film in contact with various gaseous analytes. Including an absorbing species into the sensitive layer, the applicability of this sensor can be extended to gases with acidic or basic character. The method is demonstrated using bromocresol purple as pH-indicator in a polydimethylsiloxane layer. Principal component analysis is used for qualitative analysis of a two-component gas.Dedicated to Professor Dr. Wilhelm Fresenius on the occasion of his 80th birthday     

Optical pH sensor based on Calcon immobilization membrane

An optical pH sensor was developed by immobilizing Calcon on a porous cellulosic polymer film. The color of the membrane in acidic to basic medium changes from pink to blue, which can be used for determination of pH by spectrophotometry. The sensor response to the pH changes at two wavelengths 510 and 670 nm was investigated. The optical sensor can be used for repetitive and reversible pH measurement in the pH range of 4–9 with a response time of 5 min at 510 nm. The relative standard deviation (R.S.D) was less than 0.51% for seven times alternative measurements of pH from 7 to 8. The sensor was successfully applied to the determination of pH in tap and waste water samples.     

Electrophoretic separations with polyether ether ketone capillaries and capacitively coupled contactless conductivity detection

The Raipore R1030 membrane, an anion-exchange membrane containing ammonium groups as ionogenic groups, was evaluated as the interface of an optical sensor for Cr(VI), and the effect of chemical parameters affecting Cr(VI) transport were studied. Good transport features were obtained, demonstrating the suitability of the Raipore R1030 membrane for this application. Thus, an optical sensor for chromium(VI) monitoring in industrial process waters was developed. The sensor is based on the renewable reagent approach and uses the Raipore R1030 membrane as the interface between the sample and the sensor head, which contains 1,5-diphenylcarbazide as spectrophotometric reagent for chromium. Chromium(VI) crosses the membrane and reacts with the reagent inside the sensor head, resulting in changes in the absorption of light. These changes are monitored in situ through a system of optical fibers. The sensor performance was tested by analysing samples from a waste water treatment plant for effluents from electroplating industries.     

Spatially resolved analyte mapping with time-of-flight optical sensors

Simultaneous real-time acquisition of analytical data from several locations is attractive in a variety of applications. This brief review traces the evolution of approaches to such measurements. Greatest emphasis is placed on optical time-of-flight chemical detection when signals are multiplexed from several point sensors or when the measurements are taken along the length of a single continuous extended-length ‘distributed' sensing element. The use of sensors featuring extended-length continuous chemically sensitive optical fibers offers detection arrangements for which there is no counterpart in conventional chemical sensor technologies.     

DYE LASER INTRACAVITY ABSORPTION AS AN OPTICAL PROBE IN CONDENSED PHASE AND BIOLOGICAL SYSTEMS

Abstract— A sensitive optical method to monitor local environmental changes in biological systems is described. It utilizes the high optical amplification typical to any dye laser cavity by installing the investigated system inside the laser resonator. Very small changes in the optical density of a probe dye can be detected and related to the dye's state of aggregation or in another demonstration to its adsorption on differently charged micelles and liposomes. When further developed, this technique can prove to be a very sensitive method to measure membrane potentials, changes in molecular environment and molecular dynamics. The pulsed laser used is advantageous to a continuous source used in fluorescence and absorption methods reducing photodynamic damage.     

Automatic decoding of sensor types within randomly ordered,high-density optical sensor arrays

In this paper automatic sensor identification of sensor classes within a high-density randomized array, without a priori knowledge of sensor locations, is demonstrated. Two different fluorescence-based sensor types, with hundreds of replicates each, were randomly distributed into an optical imaging fiber array platform. The sensor element types were vapor-sensitive microspheres with the environmentally-sensitive fluorescent dye Nile Red adsorbed on their surface. Nile Red undergoes spectral changes when exposed to different microenvironmental polarity conditions, e.g. microsphere surface polarity or odor exposure. These reproducible sensor spectral changes, or sensor-response profiles, enable sensors within a randomized array to be grouped into categories by optical decoding methods. Two computational decoding methods (supervised and unsupervised) are introduced; equal classification rates were achieved for both. By comparing sensor responses from a randomized array with those obtained from known (control) arrays, 587 sensors were correctly classified with 99.32% accuracy. Although both methods were equally effective, the unsupervised method, which uses sensor response changes to odor exposure, is a better decoding model for the vapor-sensitive arrays studied, because it relies only on the odor-response profiles. Another decoding technique employed the emission spectra of the sensors and is more applicable to other types of multiplexed fluorescence-based arrays and assays. The sensor-decoding techniques are compared to demonstrate that sensors within high-density optical chemosensor arrays can be positionally-registered, or decoded, with no additional overhead in time or expense other than collecting the sensor-response profiles.     

A Novel Type of Crown Ether‐Containing Metal Ions Optical Sensors Based on Polymer‐Stabilized Cholesteric Liquid Crystalline Films

For the first time, the films based on polymer‐stabilized cholesteric composites containing crown ether fragments with the optical properties sensitive to the complexation with potassium and barium ions were obtained. The complexation with these ions leads to blue spectral shift of the selective light reflection of planar cholesteric texture of composite films. Peculiarities of spectral changes and kinetics of selective light reflection shift were studied. The proposed approach can be used for the creation of the effective and selective sensor materials for different ions or groups of ions.     

IONIC SELF-ASSEMBLY AND HUMIDITY SENSITIVITY OF POLYELECTROLYTE MULTILAYERS

Multilayer thin films of alternately adsorbed layers of polyelectrolytes PDDA and PS-119 were formed on bothplanar silica substrates and optical fibers through the ionic self-assembly technique. Intrinsic Fabry-Perot cavities werefabricated by stepwise assembling the polyelectrolytes onto the ends of optical fibers for the purposes of fiber optical deviceand sensor development. Ionically assembled polyelectrolyte multilayer thin films, in which there are hydrophilic side groupswith strong affinity towards water molecules, are a category of humidity-sensitive functional materials. The polyelectrolytemultilayer thin film Fabry-Perot cavity-type fiber optical humidity sensor can work over a wide range from about 0% RH toabout 100% RH with a response time less than 1s.     

Real-time in situ monitoring of manufacturing process and CFRP quality by relative resistance change measurement

In situ monitoring of resin flow, impregnation of carbon fiber fabrics, and curing during composite manufacturing are very important for determining the quality of composite parts. In conventional methods, sensors, such as optical fibers and strain gages, are bonded to or embedded in the composites for measuring the changes in mechanical and chemical properties. Although they can detect resin curing behavior and impregnation of carbon fibers, they may adversely affect the manufacturing process or structural integrity of the composites. In this study, carbon fiber itself was used as a sensor that minimizes the degradation of mechanical properties and increases the efficiency of monitoring the manufacturing process. The change in the electrical resistance of carbon fiber fabrics was monitored during the various manufacturing processes when the resin flowed through the carbon fiber fabric and curing progressed. The effectiveness of this monitoring method was confirmed, and it is expected to be applicable in monitoring the quality of the finished composite parts.     

Evaluation of the performance of sensors based on optical imaging of a chemically sensitive layer

Interest in the use of the optical properties of chemical indicators is growing steadily. Among the optical methods that can be used to capture changes in sensing layers, those producing images of large-area devices are particularly interesting for chemical sensor array development. Until now, few studies addressed the characterization of image sensors from the point of view of their chemical sensor application. In this paper, a method to evaluate such performance is proposed. It is based on the simultaneous measurement of absorption events in a metalloporphyrin layer with an image sensor and a quartz microbalance (QMB). Exploiting the well-known behaviour of QMB, comparison of signals enables estimation of the minimum amount of absorbed molecules that the image sensor can detect. Results indicate that at the single pixel level a standard image sensor (for example a webcam) can easily detect femtomoles of absorbed molecules. It should therefore be possible to design sensor arrays in which the pixels of images of large-area sensing layers are regarded as individual chemical sensors providing a ready and simple method for large sensor array development.     

Photoresponsive ion-selective optical sensor

A novel concept of photoresponsive ion-selective optical sensor is described. Photochemical reactions can be utilized to generate and control ion fluxes in an ion-selective optode in the same manner as nonequilibrium electrochemical methods have been used in ion-selective electrodes. In contrast to their equilibrium counterparts, the photoresponsive pH-selective ion optodes are sensitive to both the buffer capacity of the sample and activity of hydrogen ions. Active optical probes are especially attractive for intracellular applications because they can be fabricated as submicron-sized beads. Common optical techniques, such as fluorescence microscopy and flow cytometry, can be combined with active ion probes with only minor modification of the existing experimental setup.     

Optical Gas Sensor Fabrication Based on Porphyrin-Anchored Electrostatic Self-Assembly onto Tapered Optical Fibers

Tapered optical fibers with nano-assembled coatings of thicknesses of order tens of nanometres were used for the detection of ammonia gas. The film coating was composed of alternate layers of tetrakis-(4-sulfophenyl) porphine (TSPP) and poly(allylamine hydrochloride) (PAH), which were deposited using the electrostatic self-assembly process (ESA). Exposure of a PAH/TSPP nano-assembled non-adiabatic tapered optical fiber with a waist diameter of 10 µm to ammonia induced significant optical changes in the transmission spectrum of the optical fiber. The fiber optic sensor showed a linear sensitivity to the concentration of ammonia in the range of 10–100 ppm, with response and recovery times less than 100 and 240 sec, respectively. The 3σ limit of detection (LOD) was estimated to be ca. 2 ppm.     

Coalescence in crude oil emulsions investigated by a light transmission method

Using a strong light source and a sensitive detector the light transmission of crude oil emulsions can be measured. A semi-empirical theory describes how the measured optical density results from the interaction of absorption and scattering. Changes in the scattering can be used to investigate the coalescence effects caused by demulsifiers. The method is of use in testing demulsifier effectiveness.     

Water-soluble Porphyrin as Temperature Sensor Based on Fluorescent Enhancement

A novel water-soluble porphyrin[5,10,15,20-tetra（3-ethoxy-4-hydroxy-5-sulfonate）phenyl porphyrin, H2TEHPPS] was designed and synthesized, which could be used as a potential fluorescence sensor to detect temperature changes. The studies were performed in solution phase and the concentration of H2TEHPPS was 2.0×10^-5 mol/L. The optical properties of H2TEHPPS were investigated based on the UV and fluorescence spectra. The results show that the fluorescence intensity of H2TEHPPS is directly proportional to temperature in the range of 293-353 K So H,TEHPPS can be used as a molecular temoerature sensor in biomedical and other fields.