Sensor System for Directly Detecting and Identifying Hydrocarbons in Water

Abstract

We report on the development of a sensor system for the detection of hydrocarbons in water. The sensor system is based on functionalized gold nanoparticle chemiresistors that change their electrical resistance when exposed to chemical compounds. We fabricated arrays with sixteen chemiresistors, where each chemiresistor can contain gold nanoparticles functionalized with a different linker. The array of semi-selective sensors was exposed to solutions containing benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylenes (BTEX) dissolved in water. Using linear discriminant analysis we demonstrated that each one of the BTEX compounds could be distinguished.