Toward the required detection limits for volatile organic constituents in marine environments with infrared evanescent field chemical sensors

Carina Dettenrieder, Yosef Raichlin, Abraham Katzir, Boris Mizaikoff

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

23 Scopus citations

Abstract

A portable sensor system for the simultaneous detection of multiple environmentally relevant volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in real seawater based on Fourier transform infrared fiber-optic evanescent wave spectroscopy (FT-IR-FEWS) was developed. A cylindrical silver halide (AgX) fiber with an ethylene/propylene copolymer (E/P-co) coated flattened segment was used as an active optical transducer. The polymer membrane enriches the hydrophobic analytes, while water is effectively excluded from the penetration depth of the evanescent field. Determination of multicomponent mixtures (i.e., 10 VOCs in real-world seawater samples) collected in Arcachon Bay, France revealed a high accuracy and reproducibility with detection limits down to 560 ppb. The measurement showed no significant influence from changing water conditions (e.g., salinity, turbidity, and temperature or other interfering substances). The time constants for 90% saturation of the polymer ranged from 20 to 60 min. The sensor system is capable of being transported for on-site monitoring of environmental pollutants in aqueous matrices with efficient long-term stability, thus showing great potential to be utilized as an early warning system.

Original languageEnglish
Article number3644
JournalSensors
Volume19
Issue number17
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Sep 2019

Keywords

  • Chemosensor
  • Enrichment
  • Environmental monitoring
  • Fiber-optic evanescent field sensor
  • Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy
  • Ir sensor
  • Mid-infrared
  • Optical chemical sensor
  • Polymer coating
  • Silver halide fiber
  • VOC
  • Volatile organic compound

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