title: Volatile Organic Compounds Sensing Using Optical Fibre Long Period Grating with Mesoporous Nano-Scale Coating.
abstract: A long period grating (LPG) modified with a mesoporous film infused with a calixarene as a functional compound was employed for the detection of individual volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and their mixtures. The mesoporous film consisted of an inorganic part, SiO₂ nanoparticles (NPs), along with an organic moiety of poly(allylamine hydrochloride) polycation PAH, which was finally infused with the functional compound, p-sulphanato calix[4]arene (CA[4]) or p-sulphanato calix[8]arene (CA[8]). The LPG sensor was designed to operate at the phase matching turning point to provide the highest sensitivity. The sensing mechanism is based on the measurement of the refractive index (RI) change induced by a complex of the VOCs with calixarene. The LPG, modified with a coating of 5 cycles of (SiO₂ NPs/PAH) and infused with CA[4] or CA[8], was exposed to chloroform, benzene, toluene and acetone vapours. The British Standards test of the VOCs emissions from material (BS EN ISO 16000-9:2006) was used to test the LPG sensor performance.
authors.affiliation: Optics and Photonics Group, Faculty of Engineering, University of Nottingham, University Park, Nottingham NG7 2RD, UK. Jiri.Hromadka@nottingham.ac.uk.|Institute for Environmental Studies, Charles University in Prague, Benatska 2, Prague 2 CZ-128 01, Czech Republic. Jiri.Hromadka@nottingham.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Jiri
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hromadka
authors.affiliation: Optics and Photonics Group, Faculty of Engineering, University of Nottingham, University Park, Nottingham NG7 2RD, UK. s.korposh@nottingham.ac.uk.|Centre for Engineering Photonics, Cranfield University, Cranfield, Bedfordshire MK43 0AL, UK. s.korposh@nottingham.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Sergiy
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Korposh
authors.affiliation: Centre for Engineering Photonics, Cranfield University, Cranfield, Bedfordshire MK43 0AL, UK. m.c.partridge@cranfield.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Matthew
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Partridge
authors.affiliation: Centre for Engineering Photonics, Cranfield University, Cranfield, Bedfordshire MK43 0AL, UK. s.w.james@cranfield.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Stephen W
authors.initials: SW
authors.lastname: James
authors.affiliation: Department of Engineering and Applied Design, University of Chichester Bognor Regis, West Sussex PO21 1HR, UK. F.Davis@chi.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Frank
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Davis
authors.affiliation: Environmental Science and Technology Department, Cranfield University, Cranfield, Bedfordshire MK43 0AL, UK. d.crump@cranfield.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Derrick
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Crump
authors.affiliation: Centre for Engineering Photonics, Cranfield University, Cranfield, Bedfordshire MK43 0AL, UK. r.p.tatam@cranfield.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Ralph P
authors.initials: RP
authors.lastname: Tatam
keywords: layer-by-layer (LbL); long period grating (LPG); mesoporous film; p-sulphanato calix[4]arene (CA[4]); p-sulphanato calix[8]arene (CA[8]); phase matching turning point (PMTP); volatile organic compounds (VOCs)