Luminescent Polymer Composites for Optical Fiber Sensors

Optical fiber sensors incorporating luminescent materials are useful for detecting physical parameters and biochemical species. Fluorescent materials integrated on the tips of optical fibers, for example, provide a means to perform fluorescence thermometry while monitoring the intensity or the spect...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Polymers 2023-01, Vol.15 (3), p.505
Main Authors: Carrillo-Betancourt, Rodolfo A, López-Camero, A Darío, Hernández-Cordero, Juan
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Dimethylpolysiloxane
Equipment and supplies
Evaluation
Fiber optics
Fluorescence
Fluorides
Glass substrates
Immersion coating
Incorporation
Membranes
Monitoring
Nanomaterials
Nanoparticles
Optical fibers
Parameters
Particle size
Physical properties
Polydimethylsiloxane
Polymer blends
Polymer matrix composites
Polymers
Powders
Quantum dots
Sensors
Temperature sensors
Ultraviolet radiation
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Summary:Optical fiber sensors incorporating luminescent materials are useful for detecting physical parameters and biochemical species. Fluorescent materials integrated on the tips of optical fibers, for example, provide a means to perform fluorescence thermometry while monitoring the intensity or the spectral variations of the fluorescence signal. Similarly, certain molecules can be tracked by monitoring their characteristic emission in the UV wavelength range. A key element for these sensing approaches is the luminescent composite, which may be obtained upon allocating luminescent nanomaterials in glass or polymer hosts. In this work, we explore the fluorescence features of two composites incorporating lanthanide-doped fluorescent powders using polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) as a host. The composites are obtained by a simple mixing procedure and can be subsequently deposited onto the end faces of optical fibers via dip coating or molding. Whereas one of the composites has shown to be useful for the fabrication of fiber optic temperature sensors, the other shows promising result for detection of UV radiation. The performance of both composites is first evaluated for the fabrication of membranes by examining features such as fluorescent stability. We further explore the influence of parameters such as particle concentration and density on the fluorescence features of the polymer blends. Finally, we demonstrate the incorporation of these PDMS fluorescent composites onto optical fibers and evaluate their sensing capabilities.
ISSN:2073-4360
2073-4360
DOI:10.3390/polym15030505