Digital fluorescent pH sensors

摘要

We designed polymeric sensors that created a digital-type fluorescence response to pH variation in an aqueous solution.An important challenge in developing new chemical ion sensors is to design them with the ability to generate a digital-type output signal that can be used in binary switching systems as highly sensitive ion indicators and in molecular devices such as data storage tools. Until now, an inner filter effect and a dynamic multichromophore array have been utilized to sharply respond to ion concentration variation; however, the inflexible requirements of these methods limit their widespread use.