Detection and classification characteristics of arrays of carbon black/organic polymer composite chemiresistive vapor detectors for the nerve agent simulants Dimethylmethylphosphonate and Diisopropy

Arrays of conducting polymer composite vapor detectors have been evaluated for performance in the presence of the nerve agent simulants dimethylmethylphosphonate (DMMP) and diisopropylmethylphosponate (DIMP). Limits of detection for DMMP on unoptimized carbon black-organic polymer composite vapor detectors in laboratory air were estimated to be 0.047-0.24 mg m-3. These values are lower than the EC50 value for the nerve agents sarin (methylphosphonofluoridic acid, (1-methylethyl) ester) and soman, which have been established as equals 0.8 mg m-3. Arrays of these vapor detectors were easily able to resolve signatures due to exposures to DMMP from those due to DIMP or due to a variety of other test analytes in a laboratory air background. In addition, DMMP at 27 mg m-3 could be detected and differentiated from the signatures of the other test analytes in the presence of backgrounds of potential interferents in the background ambient, including water, methanol, benzene, toluene, diesel fuel, lighter fluid, vinegar and tetrahydrofuran, even when these interferents were present in much higher concentrations than that of the DMMP or DIMP being detected.