Optical fiber gas sensor with multi-parameter sensing and environmental anti-interference performance

Abstract

Formic acid finds widespread applications in numerous fields, including the petrochemicals production, rubber industry, and leather tanning process, in which the operational environments are complex and diverse. The corresponding industrial systems are often intricate and highly integrated. Indeed, formic acid gas is insidious and poses a hazard to both operating personnel and industrial equipment. The existing detection technologies for formic acid gas suffer from inherent technical limitations, making it challenging to effectively shield against industrial interference in complex environments while accurately conveying information. Furthermore, the simultaneous transmission of essential environmental data alongside formic acid gas concentration remains a formidable challenge, which is crucial for facilitating the integration and simplification of industrial system. In response to the aforementioned challenges, this research firstly employs an optical fiber structure (SNS: single mode fiber-no-core fiber-single mode fiber) with natural resistance to electromagnetic interference as the substrate. Subsequently, considering the characteristics of spectral variations and the response mechanism of formic acid gas, and addressing the issue of humidity interference of the current-stage sensors based on sensitive material, the chitosan and chitosan@PDMS are chosen as sensitive membranes. Finally, a correction formula was introduced to address the temperature and humidity coupling issue of the sensor, resulting in the successful development of two formic acid gas sensors. The chitosan-based sensor has a detection sensitivity of up to 7.7 pm/ppm, whose dual parameter detection performance for temperature and formic acid gas has been experimentally demonstrated. It can also correct the humidity-induced detection error in real-time by the correction formula. The chitosan@PDMS-based sensor was fabricated by plating a hydrophobic and breathable PDMS membrane on the surface of the chitosan-based sensor. In addition to maintaining the performance compared to the original sensor (response and recovery time was increased), the latter sensor can effectively resist the humidity interference from the environment. Furthermore, the new capability has been complemented for the simultaneous detection of temperature and humidity. That is, it realizes the dual parametric detection for formic acid gas and humidity, meanwhile providing the compensation ability for temperature change. The proposed sensors have the outstanding sensitivity, selectivity, immunity, and safety. This research not only effectively resolves the interference problem in formic acid gas detection, but also provides a new idea for equipment simplification and information integration in complex industrial systems.