Highly Fluorescent Pyrene-Functional Polystyrene Copolymer Nanofibers for Enhanced Sensing Performance of TNT

Abstract

A pyrene-functional polystyrene copolymer was prepared via 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition reaction (Sharpless-type click recation) between azide-functional styrene copolymer and 1-ethynylpyrene. Subsequently, nanofibers of pyrene-functional polystyrene copolymer were obtained by using electrospinning technique. The nanofibers thus obtained, found to preserve their parent fluorescence nature, confirmed the avoidance of aggregation during fiber formation. The trace detection of trinitrotoluene (TNT) in water with a detection limit of 5 nM was demonstrated, which is much lower than the maximum allowable limit set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Interestingly, the sensing performance was found to be selective toward TNT in water, even in the presence of higher concentrations of toxic metal pollutants such as Cd(2+), Co(2+), Cu(2+), and Hg(2+). The enhanced sensing performance was found to be due to the enlarged contact area and intrinsic nanoporous fiber morphology. Effortlessly, the visual colorimetric sensing performance can be seen by naked eye with a color change in a response time of few seconds. Furthermore, vapor-phase detection of TNT was studied, and the results are discussed herein. In terms of practical application, electrospun nanofibrous web of pyrene-functional polystyrene copolymer has various salient features including flexibility, reproducibility, and ease of use, and visual outputs increase their value and add to their advantage.

Pyrene Derivative Emitting Red or near-Infrared Light with Monomer/Excimer Conversion and Its Application to Ratiometric Detection of Hypochlorite

“…Thanks to the predictability of the two luminescence signals, pyrene moieties have been introduced in the design of numerous ratiometric sensors as reporters and other functional 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 3 materials [17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28] . The ratiometric mode of pyrene-involved sensing, which involves the synchronous measurement of two fluorescence signals at different wavelengths followed by calculation of their intensity ratio, is an elegant approach for achieving ratiometric sensing by simply using a single fluorophore molecule and is aimed to overcome unfavorable effects of the turn-on mode sensing.…”

High efficiency organosilicon-containing polymer sensors for the detection of trinitrotoluene and dinitrotoluene

“…Therefore, the detection of these explosives has been attracting more attention. [8][9][10] Lots of polymers have been employed to detect TNT and DNT according to the photo-induced donor-acceptor electron transfer from the excited polymer to TNT/DNT explosives, 11,12 such as poly( p-phenylenevinylenes) (PPV), 13 poly( p-phenyleneethynylenes), 14 polycarbazole, 15,16 nonconjugated pyrene-functional polystyrene 17 and tetraphenylethylene substituted polymers. 7 When choosing a detection tool for TNT and DNT, many key points should be considered for the practical applications, for example, easy preparation, low cost, high response, recycling ability and stability.…”

“…7 When choosing a detection tool for TNT and DNT, many key points should be considered for the practical applications, for example, easy preparation, low cost, high response, recycling ability and stability. On one hand, most of the above-mentioned materials were fabricated into nanofibril films, 17,21,22 porous nanoparticles 23 or porous xerogel films 16,24,25 to enhance the sensing performance towards explosives, which would simultaneously inevitably increase the production cost because of the complex production process. In particular, polymer-based fluorescent sensors display various kinds of advantages, including solution processability, high flexibility, low cost, good film-forming ability and high repeatability.…”

“…Fluorescence sensing seems to be a facile and promising method according to the criteria mentioned above. For example, Uyar et al 17 firstly prepared a pyrene-functional polystyrene copolymer via the Sharpless-type click reaction between an azide-functional styrene copolymer and 1-ethynylpyrene. [8][9][10] Lots of polymers have been employed to detect TNT and DNT according to the photo-induced donor-acceptor electron transfer from the excited polymer to TNT/DNT explosives, 11,12 such as poly( p-phenylenevinylenes) (PPV), 13 poly( p-phenyleneethynylenes), 14 polycarbazole, 15,16 nonconjugated pyrene-functional polystyrene 17 and tetraphenylethylene substituted polymers.…”

Electrochemical detection of trinitrotoluene in water samples based on a natural mineral attapulgite modified electrode

“…Along with these conventional methods, recently, several new techniques have been developed for detecting and assaying TNT, including colorimetry [16], surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) [17,18], fluorescence spectroscopy [19,20], and luminescent spectroscopy [21], among others. All of these methods enable a sensitive assay of TNT but require bulky expensive instruments, long assay time, and well-trained laboratory technicians.…”