Electrospun Nanofibrous Membranes for Highly Sensitive Optical Sensors

Wang, X., C. Drew, and S.-H. Lee; K.J. Senecal; J. Kumar (Univ. of Massachusetts Lowell); L.A.
Samuelson (Natick Soldier Center, U.S. Army Soldier & Biological Chemical Command, Natick, MA).
Nano Letters, Vol 2 No 11, p 1273-1275, 2002

Electrospun nanofibrous membranes can be used in the fabrication of highly responsive fluorescence
quenching-based optical sensors for metal ions (Fe3+ and Hg2+) and 2,4-dinitrotoluene (DNT). A
fluorescent polymer, poly(acrylic acid)-poly(pyrene methanol) (PAA-PM), was used as a sensing
material. Optical chemical sensors were fabricated by electrospinning PAA-PM and thermally
cross-linkable polyurethane latex mixture solutions. The sensors showed high sensitivities due to the
high surface area-to-volume ratio of the nanofibrous membrane structures.