ZnO coated Fabry-Perot interferometric optical fiber for detection of gasoline blend vapors: Refractive index and fringe visibility manipulation studies

Abstract

ZnO nanoparticles-coated Fabry-Perot interferometer based optical fiber sensor is demonstrated to detect different gasoline blend concentrations in ethanol. Different gasoline blends (with ethanol varying from 0% (E0) to 100% (E100)) have been subjected to the sensor to observe the change in refractive index of the material that leads to the wavelength shift and fringe visibility change of the interference spectrum. The sensor shows the remarkable response with different gasoline blend mixtures within the time span of 0–60s in terms of wavelength and Intensity (power) shift. The maximum wavelength shift of 12.1nm is observed for E0 mixture and least of 3nm for E100 in 60s, respectively. A fast response time and recovery time of 5s and 9s, respectively, are obtained for E0 mixture. The results are related to the formation of interference pattern due the ZnO-mediated-Fabry-Perot cavity, changes in refractive index with the change in external gaseous environment, changes in fringe visibility of the spectrum and the interaction of oxygen vacancies on ZnO surface with the gasoline moieties. The rates of sensing and recovery times are related to the Reid vapor pressures of ethanol and gasoline. Hence a dual scale of sensing, both in terms of wavelength shift (refractive index) and intensity shift (fringe visibility) has been proposed for gasoline blend sensing.