Laser Chemosensor with Rapid Responsivity and Inherent Memory Based on a Polymer of Intrinsic Microporosity

Sensors

Yue Wang¹  Neil B. McKeown²  Kadhum J. Msayib²  Graham A. Turnbull³ 

[1] Organic Semiconductor Centre, SUPA, School of Physics and Astronomy, University of St. Andrews, St. Andrews, Fife KY16 9SS, UK; E-Mail:;School of Chemistry, Cardiff University, Cardiff CF10 3AT, UK; E-Mails:;School of Physics & Astronomy, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, Fife KY16 9SS, UK

关键词: polymer of intrinsic microporosity;    organic semiconductor;    distributed feedback laser;    explosive detection;    chemosensors;   

DOI  :  10.3390/s110302478

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

This work explores the use of a polymer of intrinsic microporosity (PIM-1) as the active layer within a laser sensor to detect nitroaromatic-based explosive vapors. We show successful detection of dinitrobenzene (DNB) by monitoring the real-time photoluminescence. We also show that PIM-1 has an inherent memory, so that it accumulates the analyte during exposure. In addition, the optical gain and refractive index of the polymer were studied by amplified spontaneous emission and variable-angle ellipsometry, respectively. A second-order distributed feedback PIM-1 laser sensor was fabricated and found to show an increase in laser threshold of 2.5 times and a reduction of the laser slope efficiency by 4.4 times after a 5-min exposure to the DNB vapor. For pumping at 2 times threshold, the lasing action was stopped within 30 s indicating that PIM-1 has a very fast responsivity and as such has a potential sensing ability for ultra-low-concentration explosives.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2011 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.