Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-lj6df Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-04T21:27:38.006Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Highly Sensitive Optical Sensors Using Electrospun Polymeric Nanofibrous Membranes

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 March 2011

Xianyan Wang
Affiliation:
Center for Advanced Materials, Departments of Chemistry and Physics, University of Massachusetts Lowell, Lowell, MA 01854
Soo-Hyoung. Lee
Affiliation:
Center for Advanced Materials, Departments of Chemistry and Physics, University of Massachusetts Lowell, Lowell, MA 01854
Christopher Drew
Affiliation:
Center for Advanced Materials, Departments of Chemistry and Physics, University of Massachusetts Lowell, Lowell, MA 01854
Kris J. Senecal
Affiliation:
Natick Soldier Center, U.S. Army Soldier & Biological Chemical Command, Natick MA 01760
Jayant Kumar
Affiliation:
Center for Advanced Materials, Departments of Chemistry and Physics, University of Massachusetts Lowell, Lowell, MA 01854
Lynne A. Samuelson
Affiliation:
Natick Soldier Center, U.S. Army Soldier & Biological Chemical Command, Natick MA 01760
Get access

Abstract

In recent years, polymer films have found an increasing role in sensors due to their unique characteristics. It is widely accepted that the sensitivity of a film is proportional to the surface area per unit mass. Thin films with very large surface areas can be easily fabricated by electrospinning, wherein a polymer solution is exposed to a high static voltage, creating sub-micron or nanometer scale fibers collected as a non-woven membrane. Electrospun nanofibrous membranes have surface areas approximately one to two orders of the magnitude higher than those found in continuous thin films. It is expected that their sensitivities are potentially as large. In this paper, the first use of an electrospun membrane as a highly responsive fluorescence quenching-based optical sensor is reported. A new fluorescent polymer, polyacrylic acid - poly (pyrene methanol) (PAA-PM), was synthesized via covalent attachment of the fluorescent indicator, pyrene methanol (PM), onto polyacrylic acid (PAA). Optical chemical sensors were then fabricated by electrospinning PAA-PM and thermal crosslinkable polyurethane latex mixture solutions. The synthesis, characterization, electrospinning fabrication, and comparison of the sensitivities to analytes such as ferric ions, mercury, and 2,4-dinitrotoluene between the electrospun membranes and electrostatically layer-by-layer (ELBL) assembled films are presented.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2002

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

1. Sharma, A. and Schulman, S.G., “Introduction to Fluorescence Spectroscopy” (John Wiley& Sons, INC, 1999) pp.123157.Google Scholar
2. Schreuder-Gibson, H., Gibson, P., Senecal, K., Sennett, M., Samuelson, L., Walker, J., Yeomans, W., Ziegler, D., Huang, Z., Wang, D., Yang, S., Wen, J., Ren, Z., Hill, C., Boring, E., Klabunde, K., Cheng, T.C. and Yin, R., Abstr. Pap. ACS, 221st IEC–288 (2001).Google Scholar
3. Reneker, D.H. and Chun, I., Nanotechnology 7 (3), 216223 (1996).Google Scholar
4. MacDiarmid, A.G., Norris, I.D., Jones, W.E. Jr, EI-Sherif, M.A., Yuan, Jianming, Han, B. and Ko, F.K., Abstr. Pap. ACS., 220th PMSE–310 (2000).Google Scholar
5. Kwoun, S.J., Lec, R.M., Han, B. and Ko, F.K., Proc. 2000 IEEE/EIA Int. Freq. Control Symp. Exhib., 52–57 (2000).Google Scholar
6. Offenbacher, H., Woflbeis, O.S. and Furlinger, E., Sens. Actuators 9, 73 (1986).Google Scholar
7. Lee, S.-H., Kumar, J. and Tripathy, S.K., Proc. Mater. Res. Soc. Symp. in press (2000).Google Scholar