Sensitive single-layered oxygen-sensing systems: polypyridyl ruthenium(II) complexes covalently attached or deposited as langmuir-blodgett monolayer on glass surfaces

Oxygen-sensing elements containing single-layered structures of luminescent indicators of ruthenium(II) bipyridyl complexes on glass surfaces prepared by covalent attachment and LB deposition are described. They are capable of detecting gaseous oxygen concentration by luminescence quenching of the indicator with reproducible and large quenching efficiencies that are comparable to the best quenching efficiencies obtained by other ruthenium(II) polypyridine based complexes immobilized in matrixes. The large quenching efficiencies for both films imply that the probe complexes are effectively quenched by oxygen, which is probably due to the thin single-layered structures with large surface-to-area ratio and short distance between the probe complexes and oxygen.