Development of ultrathin molecularly imprintedudpolymer films for polyaromatic hydrocarbonudsensing

摘要

Produced water is one of the pollutants produced at a large scale during offshore oiludand gas activities. Wastewater which has been separated from oil and gas during productionudcan be defined as produced water. Although produced water contains a wideudvariety of toxic chemicals, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) within producedudwater have received considerably greater attention due to their capability of causingudlong term toxic effects at the individual level in the marine environment. Due to theudadverse effect of PAHs (organic pollutants) on the environment and lives, accurateuddetection and monitoring of PAHs is required before discharging the produced waterudinto the sea. Molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) can capture analytes such asudPAHs, and when coupled with a detection mechanism, can act as sensors for thoseudpollutants. These films are suitable for remote sensing because they can effectivelyudconcentrate the analyte in situ. To combine MIPs with an optical sensing element, itudcan be useful to create them in an ultrathin film format, which is also important forudportability to remote areas. One way to achieve a uniform film with nanoscale thicknessudis through spin coating. In this study, ultrathin film MIPs have been preparedudfollowing a new procedure. Various processing parameters including spin time andudspeed have been explored to determine their effects on MIP film structure as well asudtheir removal and uptake of template molecules. Raman spectroscopy was used forudthe detection of the analyte, and atomic force microscopy was used to characterize the films’ morphology as well as to measure the thickness of the films, which ranged fromud300 nm down to 4 nm. Our findings have determined that different spin speeds produceuddifferent film morphology. Furthermore, thinner films showed more homogeneityudand reproducibility.