Multianalytes Gas Sensors by Soft Lithography Induced Gratings with Sol-Gel and Copolymers Nanocomposites

摘要

In this work, the study and development of photonic sensors using as sensitive material new nanostructured inorganic/organic hybrid optical materials and polymers is presented. Particularly, the development of some diffractive optical sensors based on inorganic salts (NiCl_2, CUCl_2) dissolved in sol-gel matrices, or by utilizing a novel amphiphilic diblock copolymer material, namely, poly(styrene sulfonate-b-tert-butylstyrene) (SPS-b-PtBS)is discussed. Soft lithography techniques were employed for the fabrication of the diffraction gratings followed by proper tailoring of the sensing materials to optimize sensors' response. The gas sensors were successfully tested in the detection of ammonia and aromatic hydrocarbons (benzene, toluene) achieving a relative low detectable analyte concentration (down to 30ppm). The obtained results confirm the efficient and low cost implementation of point gas sensors for a variety of analytes. By further optimization of the fabrication technique for the diffraction gratings and by employing also customizable sensitive materials, this sensing approach could attract a lot of interest in various applications.