Modified Plastic Optical Fibers Combined with Molecularly Imprinted Polymers and Gold Nanorods

Summary

This work builds an intrinsic optical fibre sensor by replacing the PMMA core of a plastic optical fibre, over the sensing region, with a molecularly imprinted polymer containing gold nanorods. In that segment the imprinted polymer performs two jobs at once: it recognises the target molecule selectively, and it guides the light in a medium where plasmonic effects occur. The configuration is demonstrated as a proof of concept for detecting furfural in aqueous solution, reaching a low limit of detection and showing that recognition and optical transduction can be combined in a single material rather than layered separately.

Authors & Affiliations

• Rosalba Pitruzzella

  Department of Women, Child and General and Specialized Surgery, University of Campania Luigi Vanvitelli, Naples, Italy
• Domenico Cicatiello

  Department of Engineering, University of Campania Luigi Vanvitelli, Aversa, Italy
• Chiara Marzano

  Department of Engineering, University of Campania Luigi Vanvitelli, Aversa, Italy
• Luigi P. Renzullo

  Department of Engineering, University of Campania Luigi Vanvitelli, Aversa, Italy
• Viktor Zabolotnii

  Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Latvia, Riga, Latvia
• Roman Viter

  Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Latvia, Riga, Latvia
• Luigi Zeni

  Department of Engineering, University of Campania Luigi Vanvitelli, Aversa, Italy
• Maria Pesavento

  Department of Chemistry, University of Pavia, Italy
• Giancarla Alberti

  Department of Chemistry, University of Pavia, Italy

Linari Electrospinning Systems

Topics

Materials