title: Study of the impact of penetrant characteristics upon diffusion into Teflon membranes to further assess the performance of an ATR/FTIR sensor.
abstract: In order to critically assess the performance and measuring dynamics of an attenuated total reflectance (ATR)/Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) sensor based on polymer preconcentration the impact of penetrant properties upon diffusion into the enrichment membrane must be characterised. Teflon AF2400, a highly amorphous and robust polymer not previously used in this role, was chosen as the enrichment membrane and various environmentally significant chlorinated hydrocarbon and alcohol species selected as analytes. Analyses were performed on aqueous solutions running in continuous flow configuration. Diffusion coefficients, calculated through regression of experimental data with simulated Fickian diffusion curves, were employed as the primary indicator of diffusion behaviour. Penetrant size and shape were both demonstrated to exhibit a substantial impact upon diffusion behaviour. Significant multi-component effects were observed for the simultaneous detection of two analytes. The results presented highlight the necessity for full characterisation of the observed effects prior to the development of a sensing technology for real applications.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical and Life Science, Waterford Institute of Technology, Waterford City, Ireland.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Murphy
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Kirwan
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: McLoughlin