Optical fiber-based evanescent ammonia sensor

Abstract

An optical fiber-based evanescent gaseous ammonia sensor is designed and developed. The sensing dye, bromocresol purple (BCP), is immobilized in the substitutional cladding using sol–gel process. The sensing properties of the optical fiber sensor to gaseous ammonia at room temperature are presented. This newly developed ammonia sensor exhibits good reversibility and repeatability. The effect of different carrier gases, argon, nitrogen, and air on sensing properties of the ammonia sensor is investigated. The sensor with air as carrier gas has the best response time and sensitivity. In order to improve the response time of the optical fiber evanescent ammonia sensor, an elevated ambient temperature is applied and thoroughly investigated. A fast response time of 10 s was obtained at 55.5 °C with the carrier gas of air or argon. These experimental results have demonstrated that a fast response optical fiber evanescent gaseous ammonia sensor can be constructed by applying slightly elevated ambient temperature.