A research team from the Kyoto University have discovered a gas sensor which overcomes the drawbacks presented by currently available sensors, like high cost, slow speed of detection and bulky size.
The sensor makes use of a material which is capable of detecting specific gases at a faster rate and with more accuracy under varying environments. The material is reusable and inexpensive. It emits light, the intensity of which varies with the concentration of the detected gas, thereby, making monitoring easy when it is used in other devices.
The research findings were published in Nature Materials, the article described the behaviour of the flexible crystalline material (porous coordination polymer or PCP) in tune with the changes in the surroundings. This material becomes sensitive to carbon dioxide gas when fluorescent reporter molecules (distyrylbenzene, or DSB) are fused into it. The fluorescent glow varies with the amount of gas in the environment. The article was written by Dr. NobuhiroYanai from the graduate school of engineering at the Kyoto University. An associate professor from the University, Takashi Uemera, explained that the main challenge they faced while working on the sensor was to find a material that was able to differentiate between carbon dioxide and acetylene gas, which they were able to achieve by using a combination of DSB and PCP. The DCB molecules give out blue light in their natural state, when infused into PCP, the DSB molecules undergo twisting causing the PCP molecules also to twist. This twisting of molecules causes a florescent light to be emitted in the presence of carbon dioxide gas, while the PCP molecules return to their original state by untwisting. Professor Susumu Kitagawa explained that this untwisting of the molecules makes the material return to its original state, therefore, it can be used to detect a wide range of gases.
Source: https://www.icems.kyoto-u.ac.jp/en/