title: Submicrometer organic silica gel fiber for oxygen sensing.
abstract: We introduce the electrospinning method into fabricating oxygen-sensitive submicrometer scale optical fiber. Uniform tris (4,7-diphenyl-1,10-phenathroline) ruthenium(II) dichloride ([Ru(dpp)(3)](2+)Cl(2))-doped fibers with a diameter of 900 nm are obtained by electrospinning the organic silicon sol solution derived from tetraethyl orthosilicate and n-Octyltriethoxysilane (C(14)H(32)O(3)Si). The experimental results show that the single gel fiber exhibits excellent optical and sensing properties. A laser with a wavelength of 452 nm can be efficiently launched into the fiber and guide along the fiber to excite the fluorescence. Then, we find that [Ru(dpp)(3)](2+)-gel fiber has favorable optical and sensing characteristics, and the Stern-Volmer plots are linear in the full concentration range of O(2) (0-100 vol. %). The ratio of I(0)/I(100), where I(0) and I(100) respectively represent the fluorescence intensities of the fiber exposed to 100% N(2) and 100% O(2), as the sensitivity of the fiber is 3.5. Simultaneously, the fiber can make a quick response within 100 ms. This method provides an effective and convenient way to fabricate highly uniform nanoscale or microscale optical waveguides for photonic devices.
authors.affiliation: Photonics Research Center, College of Science, Harbin Engineering University, Harbin 150001, China. yangxh@hrbeu.edu.cn
authors.forename: Xinghua
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Le
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Libo
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Yuan
authors.forename: Shouzhu
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Shenzi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Luo
authors.forename: Yanxin
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Lirong
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Peng