Nanowerk August 12, 2021 Most existing techniques to detect nitroaromatic compounds cannot be used in practical situations. Conventional methods available for the formulation of aggregation-induced emission (AIE) polymers are highly complicated, involving multi-step purification processes, proving detrimental in the application of AIE polymer-based probes. Researchers in South Korea have developed a single step protocol that produces tetraphenylethylene-hyperbranched polyglycidol (TPE-HPG) polymer solution that is added to water for formation of bright blue fluorescent TPE-HPG aggregated nanoparticles. Through empirical analysis, the researchers observed that the strong blue fluorescence of these nanoparticles is quenched by almost 95% on addition of 90 µM concentration […]
Tag Archives: Explosive detection
Black silicon can help detect explosives
EurekAlert November 27, 2019 Detection of nitroaromatic compounds (NAC) vapors is challenging owing to their low vapor pressure and relatively weak sensitivity of the existing detection techniques. An international team of researchers (Russia, Australia) proposes a novel concept to design fluorescence (FL) detection platforms based on chemical functionalization of nanotextured dielectric surfaces exhibiting resonant light absorption, trapping, and localization effects. They demonstrated the sensor with selective FL-quenching response from monolayers of carbazole moieties covalently bonded to a spiky silicon surface, “black” silicon. It provided unprecedented ppt (10–12) range limits of detection for several NAC vapors. The easy-to-implement scalable fabrication procedure […]