Fluorescent Sensing for Nitrated Compounds: Study of the Sensor Microstructure for Improvement on Explosives Detection

Abstract

In order to response for security purposes, many developments have been developed for counter terrorism and/or military applications. Chemical sensors are promising sensors for trace detection because of their sensitivity and selectivity. Fluorescent sensors have already demonstrated their ability for explosives compounds. In this paper, a polycarbosilane functionalised with pyrene (PCS-Py), a new fluorescent material was tested for explosives detection. Several aspects and characteristic of polymer film were studied: in particular the microstructure of the film and its stability under air flow. Relationship between microstructures and performances were investigated depending of coating methods. Experiments were lead to demonstrate that photo bleaching phenomenon is the main contributing factor in the reduction of stability under air flow.

Prototype of Nitro Compound Vapor and Trace Detector Based on a Capacitive MIS Sensor

“…Less sensitive, yet simpler and cheaper methods, which are based on the effect of changing the luminescence intensity of a sensor based on organic photoactive chemosensory compositions in the presence of nitro compounds, are also known [7][8][9][10]. However, there are also significant disadvantages of fluorescent quenching (FQ) methods: sensor materials' instability and complicated synthesis, intermolecular self-quenching and photo-bleaching.…”

Explosive sensing by using polymer tip on the end of optical fiber

“…Many technologies have been employed for the detection of trace levels explosives, for example Raman spectroscopy [2], molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) [3], multiphoton electron extraction spectroscopy [4], infrared spectroscopy [5], biosensor [6]. Among various analytical methods, Chemical sensors [7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16], especially fluorescence quenching ones, are promising candidates in terms of sensitivity, cost and portability [16].…”

“…The electron-deficient nitro-aromatics explosives in particular are much stronger quenchers of the fluorescence of electron-rich chromophores than a number of possible quenching molecules, imparting a degree of selectivity to the detection mechanism [17]. However, some of the fluorescence indicators were coated on planar substrate [8,13,15,18] or detect explosives by titrate method [14], which with low fluorescence capture efficiency and remote sensing cannot be implemented.…”