Cost‐Effective Polymethacrylate‐Based Electrospun Fluorescent Fibers toward Ammonia Sensing

Abstract

The fabrication of cost‐effective, polymer‐based electrospun fluorescent fibrous grids and their evaluation as candidates for sensing is reported, drawing useful results on their applicability and efficiency in gas sensing applications. A well‐defined, methacrylic homopolymer functionalized with anthracene moieties as fluorescent elements has been blended with a commercially available poly(methyl methacrylate) for the production of fluorescent electrospun polymer fibers. The formation of 3D grids can provide large interaction area with gas analytes and thus overcome quenching limitations induced by polymeric films, for more efficient sensing. These materials have been evaluated for ammonia sensing based on the fluorescence quenching of the anthracene fluorophores in the presence of ammonia vapors, exhibiting fast response at concentration up to 10 000 ppm. The covalent bonding of the anthracene fluorophore onto a hydrophobic polymethacrylate‐based backbone enables the future exploitation of the presented materials in sensing applications involving metal ions and biomolecules in aqueous media.

Multifunctional Gas and pH Fluorescent Sensors Based on Cellulose Acetate Electrospun Fibers Decorated with Rhodamine B-Functionalised Core-Shell Ferrous Nanoparticles

“…Both electrospun and sprayed magnetic fibers were evaluated for different gas ammonia concentrations and pH values. The emission spectrum of the sample was stable upon continuous illumination, showing no self-quenching mechanisms observed with other fluorescent moieties such as anthracene 41 . For the measurements, the integration time of the spectrometer was set to 10 s. The averaging method, rolling average over the last 3 acquisitions, was used.…”

“…Electrospun fibers with embedded fluorescence moieties designed for use in fluorescence sensing are considered to be highly advantageous compared to their film analogues due to their larger surface-to-volume ratios. In previous reports on fluorescent-functionalized electrospun polymer fibers, the fluorophores were either covalently attached onto the polymer backbone [37][38][39][40][41] or incorporated as dopants within the fibers [42][43][44][45][46] .…”

Electrospun Nanosystems Based on PHBV and ZnO for Ecological Food Packaging

“…Nanofibers obtained by electrospinning have improved physicochemical properties compared to fibers at the macro level and are therefore increasingly being researched for use in new food packaging systems. The advantage of nanofibers resides in the large ratio between surface area and volume, of 1–3 orders of magnitude higher compared to thin films made of the same material [ 66 ]. In addition, the electrospinning process is non-invasive and does not require the use of chemicals or high temperatures to obtain fibers.…”

New Nanofibers Based on Protein By-Products with Bioactive Potential for Tissue Engineering

“…Nanofibers with different thermoplastic polymers, biomaterials, or active compounds (dyes, drugs, light-sensitive or conductive organics, and piezoelectric materials) [3] can be obtained by electrospinning. The main advantage of electrospun fibers is the greater surface area to volume ratios of 1-3 orders of magnitude larger than thin films made of the same material [4], which allows increased contact with skin, sensing analyte, and pollutant substance, or for other applications. Nanofibers based on ethylene-co-vinyl alcohol (EVOH) [5], xanthan polysaccharide [6], silk fibroin [7], chitosan/poly(ethylene oxide) [8], poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO), and poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) [9] have been achieved by electrospinning.…”