Conjugated Polymer Sensors: Design Principles Towards Enhanced Versatility

Abstract

A description of how semiconducting fluorescent polymers function as chemosensors for a variety of chemical vapors is presented. Amplification is achieved by transport of optically induced excitations throughout a polymer film. Careful and thoughtful design of polymer chemical structures is crucial to achieving high sensitivity towards nitroaromatic explosives such as trinitrotoluene (TNT) and dinitrotoluene (DNT). These semiconductive materials have been incorporated into functional sensory devices used for ultratrace explosive detection in the search for hidden landmines. Research efforts in our group have been aimed improving the sensitivity, selectivity, and versatility of conjugated polymer sensors through rational molecularly design.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Dec 01, 2004
Accession Number
ADA433530

Entities

People

  • S. W. Thomas Iii
  • T. M. Swager

Organizations

  • Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Counter IED
  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Human Systems
  • Sensors

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Chemical Detectors
  • Conjugated Polymers
  • Detection
  • Detectors
  • Electron Transfer
  • Energy Bands
  • Explosives
  • Films
  • Land Mines
  • Materials
  • Materials Science
  • Molecules
  • Polymeric Films
  • Polymers
  • Thin Films
  • Tnt
  • Vapor Pressure

Fields of Study

  • Materials science

Readers

  • Agricultural Chemistry/Soil Science
  • Nanocomposite Materials Science
  • Optical Fiber Sensing and Electromagnetic Propagation.