Template Free Synthesis of Hollow Ball-Like Nano-Fe2O3 and Its Application to the Detection of Dimethyl Methylphosphonate at Room Temperature

This paper is focused on the template-free synthesis of nanosized ferric oxide (nano-Fe2O3) and its application in quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) resonators to detect dimethyl methylphosphonate (DMMP), a simulant of Sarin. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns confirm that the synthesized samples are made of Fe2O3 and the scanning electron microscopy (SEM) pictures show that the samples have ball-like shapes. The DMMP sensors with a sensing film of hollow ball-like and solid ball-like Fe2O3 are fabricated and their sensing characteristics are compared. The sensitivity of the hollow ball-like Fe2O3 sensor is more than 500% higher than the one of the solid ball-like Fe2O3 sensor. The hollow ball-like nano-Fe2O3 can be synthesized by a novel low temperature hydrothermal method. The sensors with the hollow ball-like Fe2O3 film perform well in a range of 1 to 6 ppm, with a sensitivity of 29 Hz/ppm at room temperature, while the appropriate recoverability and selectivity are maintained. In addition, the performance of different thicknesses of the sensing film of the hollow ball-like nano-Fe2O3 is investigated and the optimized relative film thickness of the hollow ball-like nano-Fe2O3 is found to be 20 μg/mm2.

[1]  M. Ranjbar,et al.  One-step synthesis of maghemite (γ-Fe2O3) nano-particles by wet chemical method , 2010 .

[2]  Soo Chool Lee,et al.  The development of SnO2-based recoverable gas sensors for the detection of DMMP , 2009 .

[3]  Zhiyuan Luo,et al.  Synthesis of flowerlike nano-SnO2 and a study of its gas sensing response , 2011 .

[4]  Zhi Yang,et al.  Gas sensors based on deposited single-walled carbon nanotube networks for DMMP detection , 2009, Nanotechnology.

[5]  C. Tripp,et al.  Dual WO(3) based sensors to selectively detect DMMP in the presence of alcohols. , 2007, Talanta.

[6]  D. Panayotov,et al.  Thermal Decomposition of a Chemical Warfare Agent Simulant (DMMP) on TiO2: Adsorbate Reactions with Lattice Oxygen as Studied by Infrared Spectroscopy , 2009 .

[7]  D. Panayotov,et al.  Uptake of a chemical warfare agent simulant (DMMP) on TiO2: reactive adsorption and active site poisoning. , 2009, Langmuir : the ACS journal of surfaces and colloids.

[8]  E. Dalcanale,et al.  Supramolecular sensing with phosphonate cavitands. , 2013, Accounts of chemical research.

[9]  M. Misra,et al.  An investigation on room temperature synthesis of vertically oriented arrays of iron oxide nanotubes by anodization of iron , 2010 .

[10]  Junsheng Yu,et al.  Polymer coated sensor array based on quartz crystal microbalance for chemical agent analysis , 2008 .

[11]  Franck Berger,et al.  Detection of dimethyl methylphosphonate (DMMP) by tin dioxide-based gas sensor: Response curve and understanding of the reactional mechanism , 2006 .

[12]  Cihat Tasaltin,et al.  Synthesis and DMMP sensing properties of fluoroalkyloxy and fluoroaryloxy substituted phthalocyanines in acoustic sensors , 2010 .

[13]  D. C. Tiwari,et al.  Electrochemical incorporation of copper phthalocyanine in conducting polypyrrole for the sensing of DMMP , 2010 .

[14]  Junsheng Yu,et al.  PVDF coated quartz crystal microbalance sensor for DMMP vapor detection , 2007 .

[15]  Yaming Wang,et al.  Polyaniline–TiO2 nano-composite-based trimethylamine QCM sensor and its thermal behavior studies , 2008 .

[16]  Junhui He,et al.  Single crystal WO(3) nanoflakes as quartz crystal microbalance sensing layer for ultrafast detection of trace sarin simulant. , 2009, Analytica chimica acta.

[17]  I. Bernhardt,et al.  Thermal, Magnetic, and Luminescent Properties of Dendronized Ferrite Nanoparticles , 2009 .

[18]  Zhi Yang,et al.  Flexible gas sensors with assembled carbon nanotube thin films for DMMP vapor detection , 2010 .

[19]  Y M Bermudez,et al.  Computational Study of Environmental Effects in the Adsorption of DMMP, Sarin, and VX on gamma-Al2O3: Photolysis and Surface Hydroxylation , 2009 .

[20]  Wuming Zhang,et al.  Study of a QCM Dimethyl Methylphosphonate Sensor Based on a ZnO-Modified Nanowire-Structured Manganese Dioxide Film , 2010, Sensors.

[21]  L. Mai,et al.  Synthesis and gas sensing properties of Fe2O3 nanoparticles activated V2O5 nanotubes , 2010 .

[22]  N. Ghosh,et al.  Low temperature synthesis of single-phase α-Fe2O3 nano-powders by using simple but novel chemical methods , 2009 .

[23]  Junsheng Yu,et al.  Synthesis and sensitive properties of poly‐(bistriethylphosphine)‐platinum‐diethynylbenzene for organic vapor detection , 2010 .

[24]  Jiaxu Zhang,et al.  Theoretical investigation of mechanisms for the gas-phase unimolecular decomposition of DMMP. , 2009, The journal of physical chemistry. A.