Designing solid optical sensors for in situ passive discrimination of volatile amines based on a new one-step hydrophilic PDMS preparation

We reported an optimal material for embedding chemoresponsive dyes based on modified commercial PDMS. A new approach to impart hydrophilicity to H-PDMS in an unique step was developed by addition of tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS) and in absence of basic or acid aqueous mixtures or hydroxyl-compounds during the PDMS coating process. This incorporation significantly enhances the performance of PDMS-based devices for sensing applications. New colorimetric sensors for passive detection and in situ discrimination of volatile amines have been obtained. The limit of detection achieved was 1.5 mg m−3 for both, dimethylamine and methylamine, suitable to control real working atmospheres. This work has been supported by a PATENT P201300436 (Campíns-Falcó et al. [1]).