Study of the sensing characteristics of light emitting conjugated polymer MEH-PPV for nitro aromatic explosives

The sensing characteristics of light emitting conjugated polymer MEH-PPV for nitro aromatic explosives were studied in this paper. MEH-PPV was deposited on the surface of U-shaped plastic optical fiber (POF) using dip-coating techniques. The influences of MEH-PPV concentrations and bending radius of the U-shaped sensor heads on the sensitivity of the sensor were studied. The sensor was found to be most sensitive to TNT range from 0 to 4 mg/100 ml and the sensitivity was about 4 ng/ml. The limit of detections was around 1–10 ng/ml. It was also found that the conjugated polymer changes color from red to brownish black when the sensor head was put into TNT solution which provided high selectivity for sensing TNT at room temperature.