Gas sensors
Application of SPR in gas sensor development
It can be used to finetune sensitive coatings for specific gas components. Amongst others, SPR is able to detect hydrogen (2 Dalton) on Palladium surface. Also surface interaction with different humidity can be studied at the nanoscale (more on gas barrier development here).
The reasons for choosing SPR to develop gas sensors are as follows:
1. Easy ex-situ modification of SPR surfaces with material / coating of your choice
2. Works both with gas and liquid samples
3. Sensitive to small molecules and nanoparticles
4. Electrochemical verification is possible
Vapour-induced changes in material are important for several research areas e.g. environmental monitoring, pharmaceuticals (drug storing), paper or polymer research (humidity influences to material, corrosion). Especially water vapour and water soluble organic compounds are of high interest in these areas. Excitation of the plasmons occurs at a lower angle of the incident light in gaseous environment (45°) than in aqueous environment (70°). The SPR T200 instruments measures a wide angular range (15-80°), which enables measurement both in liquid and in gas environment.
