Polymer Fiber Sensors Research Articles

High-Fidelity Strain and Temperature Measurements of Li-Ion Batteries Using Polymer Optical Fiber Sensors

The convergence of fiber optic sensing with lithium-ion batteries holds great promise for observing key cell parameters in real time, which is essential to every level of decision making, from design and engineering to finance and management. Optical sensors based on fiber Bragg gratings have recently been demonstrated as an ideal tool for measuring these metrics with sufficient temporal and spatial resolution. In this work, we extend the use of fiber Bragg gratings to polymeric optical fibers which have notably greater thermal and strain coefficients than their common silica counterparts. We demonstrate that a polymer optical fiber sensor paired with a silica-based sensor, both affixed to the external package of a lithium battery, can concurrently generate high fidelity temperature and volumetric expansion data through this non-invasive approach. The quality of this data allows for further assessments as mechanical characteristics associated with dimensional changes of cells may indicate more than simple charging or discharging during cycling. While internal monitoring remains essential for future diagnostics, external monitoring using polymer fiber sensors offers a straightforward, superficial, and cost-effective sensing solution that opens a new avenue for real-time cell assessment, prognostics, and packaging considerations.

Comprehensive study on glycoprotein detection via polymer fiber sensor decorated with dome-like Ag nanoislands and ZnO nanorods

The surface plasmon resonance (SPR) based polymer fiber sensor is experimentally demonstrated via ZnO/Ag nano-heterostructure bi-layer coating with novel configuration. Glycoprotein detecting criteria is theoretically explained via changing the band gap and refractive index (RI) of ZnO, absorption of leaking light with analyte media, penetration depth of evanescence field, interaction of SPR with evanescence wave, hydrophilicity of ZnO surface and electrochemistry of the ZnO surface. The optical analysis of ZnO(nanorods)/Ag/polymer sample reveals that increasing the glycoprotein concentration, shifts (0.022 eV) the DL emission towards higher wavelength. Electron transferring from donor groups of glycoproteins when interact and bond with ZnO molecules are responsible for this shift. Plasmon resonance shift of Δθ: ~2.21º by increasing the glycoprotein dose from 0 to 0.209 ppm illustrates, interaction of SPR with evanescence wave. Sensitivity of developed polymer fiber sensor is calculated via analysis of output emission spectra and the maximum value achieved are 21 dB/ppm and 45.9 nm/ppm for intensity and wavelength respectively, having the minimum detection limit of 0.021 ppm. Our accurate designed fiber sensor can open up a new opportunity towards application in chemical and biological industries.

Functionalized Fiber Reinforced Composites via Thermally Drawn Multifunctional Fiber Sensors

AbstractMonitoring fiber reinforced polymer composites (FRPC) during their production and operation is becoming crucial to track the performance of the final parts and optimize the overall life cycle. The challenges associated with integrating multifunctional sensors with the required aspect ratio, manufacturing scalability, robustness, and performance within FRPC parts remain, however, unresolved. Here, a novel class of electronic polymer fiber sensors that can be seamlessly integrated within FRPC, and can sense and decouple cure time, temperature, and strain during and postprocessing is reported. It is shown that the particular fiber geometry induces a minimal impact on the final FRPC microstructure. Integrating both capacitive‐ and resistive‐based sensors within the electronic fibers, the monitoring of the resin flow and its curing during the production of FRPC parts is demonstrated. Finally, the embedded fiber sensors are used to measure and decouple thermal and mechanical loads imposed on the parts during their use, paving the way toward a new platform for smart and connected fiber reinforced polymer composites.

Microring embedded hollow polymer optical fiber for refractive index sensing

We report an active refractive index sensor based on interferential modulated whispering gallery mode lasing in a microring embedded hollow polymer optical fiber. Transverse optical pumping leads to strongly modulated and directional lasing modes from the fiber. The lasing modes with a quality factor of 1.3 × 104 were obtained from the fiber, when it was immersed in water. The observed quality factor of microring embedded hollow polymer immersed in water fiber is higher than that of a dye doped hollow polymer fiber. In comparison with the surface emitting dye doped hollow fiber, microring embedded hollow polymer optical fiber can provide selective mode and confined lasing in the fiber end. The lasing modes from the microring embedded hollow polymer fiber sensor show a red shift with the increase in liquid refractive index yielding a refractive index sensitivity of 188 nm/RIU which is higher than that of dye doped hollow polymer based refractive index sensor.

Recent Progress in Polymer Optical Fiber Light Sources and Fiber Bragg Gratings

Research directed toward polymer optical fiber light source generation and polymer optical fiber Bragg gratings to be part of a novel all-polymer sensor system, integrating a light source with a sensor, are reported. It is demonstrated that photo generated fluorescence can be detected 2 m away from the excitation point using a novel fiber design. Furthermore, the research works focused on polymer fiber sensors have proven that Diphenyl Sulfide + Trans-4-stilbenemethanol, which is a core composition used by numerous groups, exhibited very good photosensitivity, allowing FBG inscription.

Tapered Polymer Fiber Sensors for Reinforced Concrete Beam Vibration Detection.

In this study, tapered polymer fiber sensors (TPFSs) have been employed to detect the vibration of a reinforced concrete beam (RC beam). The sensing principle was based on transmission modes theory. The natural frequency of an RC beam was theoretically analyzed. Experiments were carried out with sensors mounted on the surface or embedded in the RC beam. Vibration detection results agreed well with Kistler accelerometers. The experimental results found that both the accelerometer and TPFS detected the natural frequency function of a vibrated RC beam well. The mode shapes of the RC beam were also found by using the TPFSs. The proposed vibration detection method provides a cost-comparable solution for a structural health monitoring (SHM) system in civil engineering.

Concrete beam crack detection using tapered polymer optical fiber sensors

In this paper, a tapered polymer fiber sensor (TPFS) is employed to detect the crack of Concrete Beam (CB). The sensing principle for crack detection is simply described based on V-number theory. The experiments are carried out by cement mixture mixed with high reactive powder to form the CB, in which the TPFSs are embedded and surface glued. Thermocouples and strain gauges are also embedded to calibrate and determine the ambient temperature and applied strain, meanwhile, the Linear Variable Differential Transformer (LVDT) sensors are used to measure the deflection of the CBs. Four points loading test is applied for several samples to evaluate the sensors’ ability for monitoring the beam deflection and crack. Experimental results also indicate that the TPFSs can be used for post-crack detection.

Microstructured Polymer Optical Fibers Compared to Conventional POF: Novel Properties and Applications

While polymers are not the traditional materials for optical fibers, polymer optical fibers (POF) have a number of advantages over their glass counterparts for fiber sensors, particularly when coupled range of properties that can be produced using microstructures. This paper reviews some of the recent progress in microstructured polymer fiber sensors and compares them to conventional POF. Sensors considered include mechanical strain sensors and aqueous biosensors based on surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) and surface plasmon resonance (SPR).

Development of a highly sensitive and selective hyphenated technique (molecularly imprinted micro-solid phase extraction fiber–molecularly imprinted polymer fiber sensor) for ultratrace analysis of folic acid

A simple polymerization strategy is reported in this work which allows molecularly imprinted polymeric fiber (monolith) fabrication for direct use in sensing devices. This is advantageous for achieving higher degree of enrichment of target analyte (folic acid) from the complex matrices of real samples, without any surface fouling, cross-reactivity, and non-specific (false-positive) contributions. In order to measure serum folic acid at ultratrace level to detect spina bifida, a neural tube defect in mother, and other acute cases of proteomic diseases, the hyphenation between molecularly imprinted micro-solid phase extraction fiber and a complementary molecularly imprinted polymer–carbon composite fiber sensor has been found quite efficient. The primitive diagnosis of many chronic diseases is feasible by estimating folic acid as biomarker, with the detection limit as low as 0.0036 ng mL −1 (relative standard deviation = 0.13%, signal/noise = 3) in human blood serum.