Molecularly imprinted electropolymerization on a metal-coated optical fiber for gas sensing applications

Abstract A conductive molecularly imprinted polymer is synthesized around the cylindrical surface of a gold-coated optical fiber following an electropolymerization process. The metal film is used as a working electrode during the procedure in order to make the polymer grow on top of it. In addition, the fiber core is previously photo-inscribed with a tilted fiber Bragg grating to benefit from its surrounding refractive index sensitivity. Light coupled to the fiber cladding by the grating planes excites a plasmon wave on the gold surface, enhancing its refractometric properties. The deposition is monitored in real-time by tracking the wavelength shift of the surface plasmon resonance signature, to ensure a good polymer thickness. As a result, light is scattered when the target molecule attaches to the cavities present in the polymer. While the initial device had an operating range limited to liquid solutions, the polymer-coated sensor is able to work into gaseous atmospheres, so the performance of the final sensor is tested by detecting formaldehyde in gaseous state. The molecular imprinting technique provides the selectivity to this certain molecule, while the sensor response exhibits a linear behavior and a limit of detection of a few parts per million.

[1]  Bai-Ou Guan,et al.  [INVITED] Tilted fiber grating mechanical and biochemical sensors ☆ , 2016 .

[2]  Peter A. Lieberzeit,et al.  Molecularly imprinted polymer nanoparticles in chemical sensing – Synthesis, characterisation and application , 2015 .

[3]  P. Lacaze,et al.  Ultra-fast electropolymerization of pyrrole in aqueous media on oxidizable metals in a one-step process , 1999 .

[4]  C. Malitesta,et al.  Electrosynthesis of molecularly imprinted polypyrrole for the antibiotic levofloxacin , 2012 .

[5]  W. Kutner,et al.  Molecular imprinting for selective chemical sensing of hazardous compounds and drugs of abuse , 2012 .

[6]  A. Ramanavičius,et al.  Electrochemical sensors based on conducting polymer—polypyrrole , 2006 .

[7]  Yücel Şahin,et al.  Determination of paracetamol based on electropolymerized-molecularly imprinted polypyrrole modified pencil graphite electrode , 2007 .

[8]  G. D’Agostino,et al.  High selectivity and sensitivity sensor based on MIP and SPR in tapered plastic optical fibers for the detection of l-nicotine , 2014 .

[9]  A. Duarte,et al.  Recent developments in recognition elements for chemical sensors and biosensors , 2015 .

[10]  Jacques Albert,et al.  Near-infrared grating-assisted SPR optical fiber sensors: design rules for ultimate refractometric sensitivity. , 2015, Optics express.

[11]  Giuseppe Vasapollo,et al.  Molecularly Imprinted Polymers: Present and Future Prospective , 2011, International journal of molecular sciences.

[12]  Maurizio Martino,et al.  Optical gas sensing through nanostructured ZnO films with different morphologies , 2010 .

[13]  Lin Zhang,et al.  All-Fiber Loading Sensor Based on a Hybrid 45° and 81° Tilted Fiber Grating Structure , 2016, IEEE Sensors Journal.

[14]  O. Wolfbeis,et al.  Fiber-optic chemical sensors and biosensors (2008-2012). , 2013, Analytical chemistry.

[15]  J. Heinze,et al.  Electropolymerization of pyrrole and electrochemical study of polypyrrole: 1. Evidence for structural diversity of polypyrrole , 1999 .

[16]  Vinay Gupta,et al.  Room temperature detection of NO2 gas using optical sensor based on surface plasmon resonance technique , 2015 .

[17]  Jacques Albert,et al.  Polarized spectral combs probe optical fiber surface plasmons. , 2013, Optics express.

[18]  I. Nicholls,et al.  Molecular imprinting science and technology: a survey of the literature for the years 2004–2011 , 2014, Journal of molecular recognition : JMR.

[19]  M. Debliquy,et al.  Ni0.9Zn0.1O/ZnO nanocomposite prepared by malonate coprecipitation route for gas sensing , 2016 .

[20]  Anthony P F Turner,et al.  Molecularly-imprinted polymer sensors: realising their potential. , 2016, Biosensors & bioelectronics.

[21]  Qi Wang,et al.  Characterization of Temperature and Strain Using a Tilted Fiber Bragg Grating , 2015 .

[22]  J. Albert,et al.  Review of plasmonic fiber optic biochemical sensors: improving the limit of detection , 2015, Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry.

[23]  Daqiang Zhang,et al.  A Survey on Gas Sensing Technology , 2012, Sensors.

[24]  B. Howard,et al.  Characterization of optical, chemical, and structural changes upon reduction of sol–gel deposited SnO2 thin films for optical gas sensing at high temperatures , 2012 .

[25]  Alessandro Martucci,et al.  Sol-Gel Thin Films for Plasmonic Gas Sensors , 2015, Sensors.

[26]  K S Lee,et al.  Fiber mode coupling in transmissive and reflective tilted fiber gratings. , 2000, Applied optics.

[27]  F. Buonocore,et al.  A unified bottom up multiscale strategy to model gas sensors based on conductive polymers , 2015 .

[28]  Banshi D. Gupta,et al.  Surface plasmon resonance based optical fiber sensor for atrazine detection using molecular imprinting technique , 2016 .

[29]  Paul R. Ohodnicki,et al.  In-situ and ex-situ characterization of TiO2 and Au nanoparticle incorporated TiO2 thin films for optical gas sensing at extreme temperatures , 2012 .

[30]  M. Ates A review study of (bio)sensor systems based on conducting polymers. , 2013, Materials science & engineering. C, Materials for biological applications.

[31]  Amrita Prasad,et al.  Molecularly imprinted polymer based enantioselective sensing devices: a review. , 2015, Analytica chimica acta.

[32]  Chia-Yen Lee,et al.  Formaldehyde Gas Sensors: A Review , 2013, Sensors.

[33]  D. Thomson,et al.  Optical fiber refractometer using narrowband cladding-mode resonance shifts. , 2007, Applied optics.

[34]  Jiming Hu,et al.  An optical reflected device using a molecularly imprinted polymer film sensor. , 2009, Analytica chimica acta.

[35]  G. Laffont,et al.  Tilted short-period fibre-Bragg-grating-induced coupling to cladding modes for accurate refractometry , 2001 .

[36]  R. Tatam,et al.  Optical gas sensing: a review , 2012 .

[37]  Nélia Alberto,et al.  Concentration sensor based on a tilted fiber Bragg grating for anions monitoring , 2014 .

[38]  G. Korotcenkov,et al.  Instability of metal oxide-based conductometric gas sensors and approaches to stability improvement (short survey) , 2011 .

[39]  L. Alwis,et al.  Analysis of Polyimide-Coated Optical Fiber Long-Period Grating-Based Relative Humidity Sensor , 2013, IEEE Sensors Journal.

[40]  M Vijayan,et al.  Biosensing and drug delivery by polypyrrole. , 2006, Analytica chimica acta.

[41]  Chao Zhang,et al.  High-refractive-index transparent coatings enhance the optical fiber cladding modes refractometric sensitivity. , 2013, Optics express.

[42]  Jianlin Zhao,et al.  Graphene-coated tilted fiber-Bragg grating for enhanced sensing in low-refractive-index region. , 2015, Optics letters.

[43]  Qi Zhang,et al.  Biotoxin sensing in food and environment via microchip , 2014, Electrophoresis.

[44]  Luigi Zeni,et al.  Monitoring of Low Levels of Furfural in Power Transformer Oil with a Sensor System Based on a POF-MIP Platform , 2015, Sensors.

[45]  C. Caucheteur,et al.  Demodulation technique for weakly tilted fiber Bragg grating refractometer , 2005, IEEE Photonics Technology Letters.

[46]  Jacques Albert,et al.  Plasmon resonances in gold-coated tilted fiber Bragg gratings. , 2007, Optics letters.

[47]  Jacques Albert,et al.  Molecular imprinted polymer-coated optical fiber sensor for the identification of low molecular weight molecules. , 2014, Talanta.

[48]  J. Hernández-Cordero,et al.  Controlled Deposition of Polymer Coatings on Cylindrical Photonic Devices , 2015, Journal of Lightwave Technology.

[49]  Luigi Zeni,et al.  Sensitive detection of 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene by tridimensional monitoring of molecularly imprinted polymer with optical fiber and five-branched gold nanostars , 2015 .

[50]  J. Albert,et al.  Tilted fiber Bragg grating sensors , 2013 .

[51]  Francisco J. Arregui,et al.  Optical fiber pH sensor based on lossy-mode resonances by means of thin polymeric coatings , 2011 .