title: Highly sensitive gas-phase explosive detection by luminescent microporous polymer networks.
abstract: We propose microporous networks (MPNs) of a light emitting spiro-carbazole based polymer (PSpCz) as luminescent sensor for nitro-aromatic compounds. The MPNs used in this study can be easily synthesized on arbitrarily sized/shaped substrates by simple and low-cost electrochemical deposition. The resulting MPN afford an extremely high specific surface area of 1300 m(2)/g, more than three orders of magnitude higher than that of the thin films of the respective monomer. We demonstrate, that the luminescence of PSpCz is selectively quenched by nitro-aromatic analytes, e.g. nitrobenzene, 2,4-DNT and TNT. In striking contrast to a control sample based on non-porous spiro-carbazole, which does not show any luminescence quenching upon exposure to TNT at levels of 3 ppm and below, the microporous PSpCz shows a clearly detectable response even at TNT concentrations as low as 5 ppb, clearly demonstrating the advantage of microporous films as luminescent sensors for traces of explosive analytes. This level states the vapor pressure of TNT at room temperature.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Electronic Devices, University of Wuppertal, Rainer-Gruenter-Str. 21, 42119 Wuppertal, Germany.
authors.forename: André
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Räupke
authors.affiliation: University of Wuppertal, Macromolecular Chemistry, Gaußstr. 20, 42119 Wuppertal, Germany.
authors.forename: Alex
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Palma-Cando
authors.affiliation: Institute of Electronic Devices, University of Wuppertal, Rainer-Gruenter-Str. 21, 42119 Wuppertal, Germany.
authors.forename: Eugen
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Shkura
authors.affiliation: University of Wuppertal, Chair of Large Area Optoelectronics, Rainer-Gruenter-Str. 21, 42119 Wuppertal, Germany.
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Teckhausen
authors.affiliation: University of Wuppertal, Chair of Large Area Optoelectronics, Rainer-Gruenter-Str. 21, 42119 Wuppertal, Germany.
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Polywka
authors.affiliation: University of Wuppertal, Chair of Large Area Optoelectronics, Rainer-Gruenter-Str. 21, 42119 Wuppertal, Germany.
authors.forename: Patrick
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Görrn
authors.affiliation: University of Wuppertal, Macromolecular Chemistry, Gaußstr. 20, 42119 Wuppertal, Germany.
authors.forename: Ullrich
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Scherf
authors.affiliation: Institute of Electronic Devices, University of Wuppertal, Rainer-Gruenter-Str. 21, 42119 Wuppertal, Germany.
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Riedl