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Sensitive and fast optical HCl gas sensor using a nanoporous fiber membrane consisting of poly(lactic acid) doped with tetraphenylporphyrin

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Abstract

A highly sensitive and fast sensor for gaseous hydrogen chloride (HCl) is described. It is based on the use of the optical probe 5,10,15,20-tetraphenylporphyrin contained in a poly(lactic acid) nanoporous fiber membrane that was fabricated via electrospinning. With its porous structure, the sensor overcomes the slow gas absorption and diffusion of other sensing materials. Field emission SEM was employed to characterize the morphology of the sensing membrane. The exposure to HCl gas causes a color change from pink to green that is due to the protonation of the central nitrogen atoms of the porphyrin, and fluorescence is quenched. The largest increase in absorbance occurs at 442 nm. HCl gas can be detected in this way even at sub-ppm levels. The detection limit is 34 ppb, and the response time is as short as 5 s. The sensor is highly stable after ten cycles of tracing HCl gas and recovery, and response is fully reversible.

A fast responding HCl gas sensor was obtained by incorporating the optical probe 5,10,15,20-tetraphenylporphyrin (TPPH2) into a poly(lactic acid) nanoporous fiber membrane by electrospinning. On exposure to HCl gas, the peak of the Soret band undergoes a bathochromic shift from 418 to 442 nm, and the color of the film changes from pink to green

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (51102178) and National Key Technology Support Program (2015BAE01B03), Innovation Fund for Technology of China (14C26211200298) and Innovation Fund for Technology of Tianjin (14ZXCXGX00776).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Textile, Tianjin Polytechnic University, Tianjin, 300387, China

    Min Hu, Weimin Kang, Bowen Cheng, Zongjie Li & Yixia Zhao

  2. State Key Laboratory of Separation Membranes and Membrane Processes, Tianjin, 300387, China

    Weimin Kang, Bowen Cheng & Lei Li

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  1. Min Hu
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  2. Weimin Kang
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  3. Bowen Cheng
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  4. Zongjie Li
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  5. Yixia Zhao
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  6. Lei Li
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Correspondence to Weimin Kang or Bowen Cheng.

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Hu, M., Kang, W., Cheng, B. et al. Sensitive and fast optical HCl gas sensor using a nanoporous fiber membrane consisting of poly(lactic acid) doped with tetraphenylporphyrin. Microchim Acta 183, 1713–1720 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00604-016-1801-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00604-016-1801-z

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