An Optical Fiber Chemical Sensor for the Detection of Copper(II) in Drinking Water

Abstract

Highly sensitive plasmonic optical fiber platforms combined with receptors have been recently used to obtain selective sensors. A low-cost configuration can be obtained exploiting a D-shaped plastic optical fiber covered with a multilayer sensing surface. The multilayer consists of a gold film, functionalized with a specific receptor, where the surface plasmon resonance (SPR) occurs. The signal is produced by the refractive index variation occurring as a consequence of the receptor-to analyte binding. In this work, a selective sensor for copper(II) detection in drinking water, exploiting a self-assembled monolayer (SAM) of d,l-penicillamine as the sensing layer, has been developed and tested. Different concentrations of copper(II) in NaCl 0.1 M solutions at different pH values and in a real matrix (drinking water) have been considered. The results show that the sensor is able to sense copper(II) at concentrations ranging from 4 × 10−6 M to 2 × 10−4 M. The use of this optical chemical sensor is a very attractive perspective for fast, in situ and low-cost detection of Cu(II) in drinking water for human health concerns. Furthermore, the possibility of remote control is feasible as well, because optical fibers are employed.

SPR-Optical Fiber-Molecularly Imprinted Polymer Sensor for the Detection of Furfural in Wine

“…With the limited number of receptor sites in this kind of sensor, the response was linear only in very small concentration ranges. Therefore, the standardization curves were modeled by an equation deriving from the Langmuir adsorption isotherm [ 14 , 19 , 20 ], assuming that the signal is directly proportional to the amount of the template in the sensing layer (Δ λ = k g c Aint ): …”

“…The D-shaped POF sensing platform, developed by our research group, has been exploited in several application fields, employing different kinds of receptors, as aptamers, antibodies, metal ligands, and MIPs [ 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 ]. The MIPs are a class of artificial receptors whose concept dates back to the early 1930s [ 21 , 22 , 23 ].…”

An appraisal of data collection, analysis, and reporting adopted for water quality assessment: A case of Nigeria water quality research

“…Much earlier, most fabricated sensors were mainly for the collecting water quality data of physical nature such as temperature ( Culler et al., 2004 ). But recent advances in optical fibre and nanomaterial-enabled screen-printed electrochemical sensors have enabled the collection of chemical or biological data such as trace metals ( Liu et al., 2019 ; Mimendia et al., 2010 ; Pesavento et al., 2019 ) pesticides ( Saleh et al., 2020 ), and microbial and organic matter ( Bridgeman et al., 2015 ). Additionally, a water quality automatic monitoring system based on general packet radio service (GPRS) data communications can continuously acquire real-time data and send them to control centres or personal gadgets ( Ionel et al., 2015 ).…”

Single Drop Detection of Furfural in Wine by an SPR-Optical Fiber-MIP Based Sensor

“…The standardization curves were obtained by plotting the variation of the resonance wavelength (λ) in function of the concentration of 2-FAL. The curves were modelled by an equation similar to the Hill equation, deriving from the Langmuir adsorption isotherm [19]:…”

“…The optical sensor system here proposed has been developed by our research group [12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19] and is based on a multilayer structure realized on a planar surface of exposed core POF, embedded in a resin block (D-shaped POF platform), with the MIP receptor for 2-FAL detection deposited on the gold film. This optical sensing platform has been exploited in several applications, employing different kinds of receptors, as antibodies, aptamers, molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs), and also metal ligands, as for example hydroxamate siderophore deferoxamine for iron(III) and D,L-penicillamine for copper(II) detection [12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19].…”