Abstract
Sensitive, selective and fast detection of chemical warfare agents is necessary for anti-terrorism purposes. In our search for functional materials sensitive to dimethyl methylphosphonate (DMMP), a simulant of sarin and other toxic organophosphorus compounds, we found that zinc oxide (ZnO) modification potentially enhances the absorption of DMMP on a manganese dioxide (MnO2) surface. The adsorption behavior of DMMP was evaluated through the detection of tiny organophosphonate compounds with quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) sensors coated with ZnO-modified MnO2 nanofibers and pure MnO2 nanofibers. Experimental results indicated that the QCM sensor coated with ZnO-modified nanostructured MnO2 film exhibited much higher sensitivity and better selectivity in comparison with the one coated with pure MnO2 nanofiber film. Therefore, the DMMP sensor developed with this composite nanostructured material should possess excellent selectivity and reasonable sensitivity towards the tiny gaseous DMMP species.
Highlights
Sensitive and selective detection of a wide variety of chemical species has become a necessity in many applications, including the quantification of chemical warfare agents (CWAs), explosives, environmental pollutants and many other toxic industrial compounds [1,2]
Metal oxides are well-known for their industrial applications as adsorbents, catalysts and catalyst supports, especially manganese dioxide (MnO2) and titanium dioxide (TiO2) which are widely used as molecular sieves and electrode materials in batteries and sensors due to their unique electronic and surface properties [18,19,20,21,22]
The morphology and structure of the pure NW-structured MnO2 film is shown in. These scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images confirmed that the composite nanostructures were formed in the zinc oxide (ZnO)-modified
Summary
Sensitive and selective detection of a wide variety of chemical species has become a necessity in many applications, including the quantification of chemical warfare agents (CWAs), explosives, environmental pollutants and many other toxic industrial compounds [1,2]. Metal oxides are well-known for their industrial applications as adsorbents, catalysts and catalyst supports, especially manganese dioxide (MnO2) and titanium dioxide (TiO2) which are widely used as molecular sieves and electrode materials in batteries and sensors due to their unique electronic and surface properties [18,19,20,21,22]. They are often used as sensing materials for different gases due to their large gases adsorbent capacity [8,23,24]
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