SPECIFIC DETECTION OF EXPLOSIVES SUCH AS 2,4,6-TRINITROTOLUENE OR 2,4-DINITROTOLUENE BY MOLECULARLY IMPRINTED POLYMERS

摘要

For the detection of explosives at airports, for humanitarian demining and in concerns with national security there are needs for inexpensive, rapid, high sensitive and selective sensors. Our approach is to develop a molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) that has a high selectivity and sensitivity for explosives. Common ingredients in improvised explosives like 2,4,6-TNT, 2,4-DNT, NGI, EGDN, tagging substances like DMNB or the self-made explosive most frequently used by terrorists, TATP, exhibit vapour pressures in the ppb to percentage range which in principle enable a possible detection of these substances via vapour trace detection methods [1]. For this study we decided to use 2,4,6-TNT and 2,4-DNT as templates to examine the selectivity and the sensitivity of the MIPs against similar substances.In order to reduce the measurement time in experiments with particulate MIPs and for the employment of MIPs as sensor materials we tried to establish a faster screening module for the MIP characterisation. We decided to use QCMs (quartz crystal microbalances) as a mass sensitive device that can be coated with a sensitive layer. For online testing of the performance of the MIPs a so called gaslab 21 was adapted to a special TNT vapour generator.