Enhancing performance of optical sensor through the introduction of polystyrene and porous structures

Abstract

Simple and promising approaches for developing high‐performance Fe3+ sensors were proposed. Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) membrane containing pyrene as a fluorescent indicator was prepared via solvent‐cast method. Upon immersion into 1.0 mM Fe3+ solution, the fluorescence emission of the membrane decreased with the ratio of fluorescence intensities before and after (F0/F) immersion of 1.25. The sensitivity enhancement was achieved through the introduction of polystyrene (PS) onto PVC and the introduction of porous structures. Polyvinyl chloride‐graft‐polystyrene copolymers (PVC‐g‐PS) were synthesized via Atom Transfer Radical Polymerization using PVC as macroinitiator. The grafting percentages of PS on PVC calculated from Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy were 17 and 41. The membrane prepared from low molecular weight copolymer showed higher sensing ability than that from PVC with the F0/F value of 1.39. The increase in PS chain length did not significantly affect the fluorescence quenching. A Stern–Volmer quenching relationship was found with Ksv of 3.96 × 102 M−1. The effect of porous structures on fluorescence quenching was studied by introducing Triton X‐100 as a porogen to PVC/pyrene solution. Attenuated total reflection Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and Scanning Electron Microscopy analyses confirmed a complete removal of Triton X‐100 after 3 days of immersion in water. The porous membrane demonstrated an enhanced sensing performance with the F0/F value of 1.46. PVC‐g‐PS/pyrene membrane exhibited highly sensitive and selective responses toward Fe3+ over Cu2+, Mg2+, Co2+, Zn2+, Ni2+, and Ag+. In addition, a good reversibility after five cycles of quenching and regeneration was obtained. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2015, 132, 41759.

Sensitive 2,4-dinitrotoluene fluorescence sensors based on porous electrospun fibres and porous membranes

“…In addition, the sensing performance was slightly improved in the presence of PS. PS fibres and PS-co-PMMA fibres exhibited higher quenching efficiencies than PMMA-PVC terpolymer fibres, possibly due to the π − π stacking between pyrene and the phenyl groups of PS 3,6 . Although PS fibres was expected to provide higher sensing performance than PS-co-PMMA fibres due to a higher PS content, the performance was likely offset by the larger fibre size.…”

“…The improvement in fluorescence quenching sensitivity with secondary porous structures was observed, and this could be attributed to the increased surface area, which facilitated quenchers to diffuse into nanofibres. In addition, our group recently reported the enhancement in Fe 3+ detection using pyrene as a chromophore through the introduction of polystyrene and porous structures 6 . In this work, pyrene-doped fibres from three different polymer solutions, that is, poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) and poly(vinyl chloride-co-vinyl acetate-covinyl alcohol) (PVC terpolymer), polystyrene (PS), and poly(styrene-co-methyl methacrylate) (PS-co-PMMA), were prepared via electrospinning technique.…”

Fluorescent Polystyrene Microbeads as Invisible Security Ink and Optical Vapor Sensor for 4-Nitrotoluene

“…Fluorescent polymeric microspheres with controlled particle size, high photostability, tunable emission properties, and thermal stability make them suitable as micro- or nanosensors for analysis and device fabrication. , For instance, M. A. Winnik et al reported lanthanide metal-encoded polystyrene microbeads where the postfunctionalization of fluorescent microbeads with analyte was applied for highly multiplexed bioassay . Fluorescent microbeads are usually synthesized by physical entrapment of dye in a polymer matrix such as poly­(methyl methacrylate), polysilane, polyvinyl chloride, polystyrene, and cellulose acetate . Research from the group of D. R. Walt et al and O. S. Wolfbeis et al have demonstrated the applications of fluorescent microspheres for different types of sensors like high density sensing and suspension array, bar-coding, and in optical fiber sensors as an artificial nose. − However, dye leakage and low photostability limits the utility of the fluorophore entrapped polymer in applications involving long-time fluorescence monitoring. , …”

“…Winnik et al reported lanthanide metal-encoded polystyrene microbeads where the postfunctionalization of fluorescent microbeads with analyte was applied for highly multiplexed bioassay. 14 Fluorescent microbeads are usually synthesized by physical entrapment of dye in a polymer matrix such as poly(methyl methacrylate), 15 polysilane, 16 polyvinyl chloride, polystyrene, 17 and cellulose acetate. 18 Research from the group of sensors like high density sensing and suspension array, barcoding, and in optical fiber sensors as an artificial nose.…”

Enhanced ferro-actuator with a porosity-controlled membrane using the sol-gel process and the HF etching method

“…First, to produce a polymer membrane using the solvent casting method, a polymer solution is poured into a casting mold, the solvent of the polymer is vaporized, and a polymer membrane is obtained. Through solvent casting, Wang et al fabricated a cross-linked polyvinyl alcohol and tetramethylpiperidine-1-oxy radical-oxidized cellulose nanofibril membrane [14], and Panawong et al developed an optical sensor to detect Fe 3+ using the solvent casting method with polyvinyl chloride solution and pyrene [15]. In addition, Kwon et al made an ionic polymer actuator using on anion-conducting methylated poly[(1-(4, 4_-diphenylether)-5-oxybenzimidazole)benzimidazole] membrane [16].…”