Sensors 2011, 11(3), 2478-2487; doi:10.3390/s110302478
Article

Laser Chemosensor with Rapid Responsivity and Inherent Memory Based on a Polymer of Intrinsic Microporosity

Yue Wang 1 email, Neil B. McKeown 2 email, Kadhum J. Msayib 2 email, Graham A. Turnbull 1,* email and Ifor D. W. Samuel 1,* email
1 Organic Semiconductor Centre, SUPA, School of Physics and Astronomy, University of St. Andrews, St. Andrews, Fife KY16 9SS, UK 2 School of Chemistry, Cardiff University, Cardiff CF10 3AT, UK
* Authors to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Received: 2 December 2010; in revised form: 1 February 2011 / Accepted: 10 February 2011 / Published: 28 February 2011
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Optical Resonant Microsensors)
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Abstract: This work explores the use of a polymer of intrinsic microporosity (PIM-1) as the active layer within a laser sensor to detect nitroaromatic-based explosive vapors. We show successful detection of dinitrobenzene (DNB) by monitoring the real-time photoluminescence. We also show that PIM-1 has an inherent memory, so that it accumulates the analyte during exposure. In addition, the optical gain and refractive index of the polymer were studied by amplified spontaneous emission and variable-angle ellipsometry, respectively. A second-order distributed feedback PIM-1 laser sensor was fabricated and found to show an increase in laser threshold of 2.5 times and a reduction of the laser slope efficiency by 4.4 times after a 5-min exposure to the DNB vapor. For pumping at 2 times threshold, the lasing action was stopped within 30 s indicating that PIM-1 has a very fast responsivity and as such has a potential sensing ability for ultra-low-concentration explosives.
Keywords: polymer of intrinsic microporosity; organic semiconductor; distributed feedback laser; explosive detection; chemosensors

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Cite This Article

MDPI and ACS Style

Wang, Y.; McKeown, N.B.; Msayib, K.J.; Turnbull, G.A.; Samuel, I.D.W. Laser Chemosensor with Rapid Responsivity and Inherent Memory Based on a Polymer of Intrinsic Microporosity. Sensors 2011, 11, 2478-2487.

AMA Style

Wang Y, McKeown NB, Msayib KJ, Turnbull GA, Samuel IDW. Laser Chemosensor with Rapid Responsivity and Inherent Memory Based on a Polymer of Intrinsic Microporosity. Sensors. 2011; 11(3):2478-2487.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Wang, Yue; McKeown, Neil B.; Msayib, Kadhum J.; Turnbull, Graham A.; Samuel, Ifor D. W. 2011. "Laser Chemosensor with Rapid Responsivity and Inherent Memory Based on a Polymer of Intrinsic Microporosity." Sensors 11, no. 3: 2478-2487.

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