Abstract
A portable instrumental system was designed for the routine environmental monitoring of toxic volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in atmospheric conditions based on changes in the photoluminescence emission of semiconductor nanoparticles (quantum dots) entrapped in a sol-gel matrix as the solid sensing material. The sol-gel sensing material displayed a long-lived phosphorescent emission, which is quenched in the presence of trace levels of a volatile organic compound (acetone) in gaseous atmospheres. The developed instrument could measure and process the changes in the photoluminescence of the sensing material after exposure to gaseous acetone. The developed prototype device consists of a deep-ultraviolet ligtht-emitting diode (UV LED), which excites the chemical sensing material; an optical filter to remove scattered light and other non-desirable wavelengths; a photomultiplier tube (PMT) to convert the phosphorescence emission of the sensor phase to an electrical signal; and a microcontroller to correlate the signal with the analyte concentration. The developed prototype was evaluated for its ability to measure low levels of gaseous acetone in contaminated atmospheres with high sensitivity (detection limit: 9 ppm). The obtained results show the feasibility of this type of instrument for environmental analytical control purposes.
Highlights
Environmental analytical control requires the development of appropriate sensors that can perform rapid and reliable detection and identification of environmentally relevant chemical species.Among the wide variety of contaminants, the control of high-vapor-pressure toxic species in the form of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) is very important in occupational safety and health control because they can produce harmful effects on human health.In this vein, acetone is an organic chemical compound found naturally in the environment, and due to its many versatile applications, is mass-produced in the industry
This fact confirmed the efficient doping of the ZnS quantum dots (QDs) with Mn and the preferable emission of the nanoparticles synthesized as strong phosphorescence-type photoluminescence
The results showed thethe sensing material was monitored each case
Summary
Among the wide variety of contaminants, the control of high-vapor-pressure toxic species in the form of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) is very important in occupational safety and health control (e.g., in workplace atmospheres) because they can produce harmful effects on human health. In this vein, acetone is an organic chemical compound found naturally in the environment, and due to its many versatile applications, is mass-produced in the industry. Acetone is an organic chemical compound found naturally in the environment, and due to its many versatile applications, is mass-produced in the industry It is extensively used in laboratories and industrial applications.
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