Colorimetric Signal Readout for the Detection of Volatile Organic Compounds Using a Printable Glass-Based Dielectric Barrier Discharge-Type Helium Plasma Detector

In this paper, we report on a printable glass-based manufacturing method and a new proof-of-concept colorimetric signal readout scheme for a dielectric barrier discharge (DBD)-type helium plasma photoionization detector. The sensor consists of a millimeter-sized glass chamber manufactured using a printable glass suspension. Plasma inside the chip is generated using a custom-built power supply (900 V and 83.6 kHz), and the detector uses ∼5 W of power. Our new detection scheme is based on detecting the change in the color of plasma after the introduction of target gases. The change in color is first captured by a smartphone camera as a video output. The recorded video is then processed and converted to an image light intensity vs retention time plot (gas chromatogram) using three standard color space models (red, green, blue (RGB), hue, saturation, lightness (HSL), and hue, saturation, value (HSV)) with RGB performing the best among the three models. We successfully detected three different categories of volatile organic compounds using our new detection scheme and a 30-m-long gas chromatography column: (1) straight-chain alkanes (n-pentane, n-hexane, n-heptane, n-octane, and n-nonane), (2) aromatics (benzene, toluene, and ethylbenzene), and (3) polar compounds (acetone, ethanol, and dichloromethane). The best limit of detection of 10 ng was achieved for benzene at room temperature. Additionally, the device showed excellent performance for different types of sample mixtures consisting of three and five compounds. Our new detector readout method combined with our ability to print complex glass structures provides a new research avenue to analyze complex gas mixtures and their components.

Chemical sensing with Au and Ag nanoparticles

Noble metal nanoparticles (NPs) are ideal scaffolds for the fabrication of sensing devices because of their high surface-to-volume ratio combined with their unique optical and electrical properties which are extremely sensitive to changes in the environment. Such characteristics guarantee high sensitivity in sensing processes. Metal NPs can be decorated with ad hoc molecular building blocks which can act as receptors of specific analytes. By pursuing this strategy, and by taking full advantage of the specificity of supramolecular recognition events, highly selective sensing devices can be fabricated. Besides, noble metal NPs can also be a pivotal element for the fabrication of chemical nose/tongue sensors to target complex mixtures of analytes. This review highlights the most enlightening strategies developed during the last decade, towards the fabrication of chemical sensors with either optical or electrical readout combining high sensitivity and selectivity, along with fast response and full reversibility, with special attention to approaches that enable efficient environmental and health monitoring.

Belt-Mounted Micro-Gas-Chromatograph Prototype for Determining Personal Exposures to Volatile-Organic-Compound Mixture Components

We describe a belt-mountable prototype instrument containing a gas chromatographic microsystem (μGC) and demonstrate its capability for near-real-time recognition and quantification of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in moderately complex mixtures at concentrations encountered in industrial workplace environments. The μGC comprises three discrete, Si/Pyrex microfabricated chips: a dual-adsorbent micropreconcentrator-focuser for VOC capture and injection; a wall-coated microcolumn with thin-metal heaters and temperature sensors for temperature-programmed separations; and an array of four microchemiresistors with thiolate-monolayer-protected-Au-nanoparticle interface films for detection and recognition-discrimination. The battery-powered μGC prototype (20 × 15 × 9 cm, ∼2.1 kg sans battery) has on-board microcontrollers and can autonomously analyze the components of a given VOC mixture several times per hour. Calibration curves bracketing the Threshold Limit Value (TLV) of each VOC yielded detection limits of 16-600 parts-per-billion for air samples of 5-10 mL, well below respective TLVs. A 2:1 injection split improved the resolution of early eluting compounds by up to 63%. Responses and response patterns were stable for 5 days. Use of retention-time windows facilitated the chemometric recognition and discrimination of the components of a 21-VOC mixture sampled and analyzed in 3.5 min. Results from a "mock" field test, in which personal exposures to time-varying concentrations of a mixture of five VOCs were measured autonomously, agreed closely with those from a reference GC. Thus, reliable, near-real-time determinations of worker exposures to multiple VOCs with this wearable μGC prototype appear feasible.

A single light spot GC detector employing localized surface plasmon resonance of porous Au@SiO2 nanoparticle multilayer

Miniaturization of an LSPR GC detector using porous Au@SiO₂ nanoparticle multilayer.

Real-time Simutaneous Separation and Detection of Chemicals using Integrated Micro Column and Surface Plasmon Resonance Imaging Micro-GC

An integrated and miniaturized Micro-Gas Chromatography with real-time imaging capability for simultaneous chemical separation and detection was developed. Surface Plasmon Resonance imaging (SPRi) was used as a sensitive and real-time imaging based detector for various gaseous chemical mixtures and good gas chromatographs were obtained. The system integrated a home-made miniaturized molecular sieve packed spiral micro-channel column with the SPRi imaging chip and real-time chemical separation and detection were demonstrated using alkanes. The chemical separation processes were simulated using COMSOL and matched well with experimental results. The system enabled the study of chemical separation processes in real-time by miniaturizing and integrating the Micro-GC separation and detection units. This approach can be expanded to multidimensional GC development.

A miniature closed-loop gas chromatography system

This paper reports the characterization of a miniaturized circulatory column system that is capable of magnifying the effective column length by forming a circulatory loop with chip-scale columns, thus ultimately achieving high-efficiency target separation. The circulatory column system is composed of a tandem of 25 cm microcolumns and six valves for fluidic flow control in order to enable chromatographic separation in circulatory motions while requiring only 5.5 kPa of pressure, which current micropumps are currently capable of supplying. The developed column system (1) successfully demonstrated 16 times elongation of a virtual column length up to 800 cm by only utilizing two 25 cm microcolumns, which is the longest column length reported by any MEMS-scale functioning GC column, (2) achieved a high theoretical plate number of 68,696 with pentane circulating after 15.5 circulatory cycles, which corresponds to the plate number per length-pressure of 1611 plate m(-1) kPa(-1), the highest record reported yet, and (3) demonstrated successful separation of target molecules during circulation by utilizing a pentane/hexane mixture, resulting in magnification of the two corresponding peaks via circulation.

In situ calibration of micro-photoionization detectors in a multi-dimensional micro-gas chromatography system

In situ calibration of PIDs in multi-dimensional GC.

Polymer-coated micro-optofluidic ring resonator detector for a comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatographic microsystem: μGC ×μGC-μOFRR

We describe first results from a micro-analytical subsystem that integrates a detector comprising a polymer-coated micro-optofluidic ring resonator (μOFRR) chip with a microfabricated separation module capable of performing thermally modulated comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatographic separations (μGC ×μGC) of volatile organic compound (VOC) mixtures. The 2 × 2 cm μOFRR chip consists of a hollow, contoured SiO(x) cylinder (250 μm i.d.; 1.2 μm wall thickness) grown from a Si substrate, and integrated optical and fluidic interconnection features. By coupling to a 1550 nm tunable laser and photodetector via an optical fiber taper, whispering gallery mode (WGM) resonances were generated within the μOFRR wall, and shifts in the WGM wavelength caused by transient sorption of eluting vapors into the PDMS film lining the μOFRR cylinder were monitored. Isothermal separations of a simple alkane mixture using a PDMS coated 1st-dimension ((1)D) μcolumn and an OV-215-coated 2nd-dimension ((2)D) μcolumn confirmed that efficient μGC ×μGC-μOFRR analyses could be performed and that responses were dominated by film-swelling. Subsequent tests with more diverse VOC mixtures demonstrated that the modulated peak width and the VOC sensitivity were inversely proportional to the vapor pressure of the analyte. Modulated peaks as narrow as 120 ms and limits of detection in the low-ng range were achieved. Structured contour plots generated with the μOFRR and a reference FID were comparable.

Flow-through microfluidic photoionization detectors for rapid and highly sensitive vapor detection

A photoionization detector (PID) is well known for its high sensitivity, large dynamic range, and non-destructive vapor detection capability. However, due to its tardy response, which results from the relatively large ionization chamber and dead volume, the application of the PID in gas chromatography (GC) has been limited. Here, we developed a rapid, flow-through, and highly sensitive microfluidic PID that was microfabricated directly on a conductive silicon wafer. The microfluidic PID has a significantly reduced ionization chamber volume of only 1.3 μL, nearly 10 times smaller than that of state-of-the-art PIDs and over 100 times smaller than that of commercial PIDs. Moreover, it has virtually zero dead volume due to its flow-through design. Consequently, the response time of the microfluidic PID can be considerably shortened, ultimately limited by its residence time (7.8 ms for 10 mL min(-1) and 78 ms for 1 mL min(-1)). Experimentally, the response of the microfluidic PID was measured to be the same as that of the standard flame ionization detector with peak full-widths-at-half-maximum of 0.25 s and 0.085 s for flow rates of 2.3 mL min(-1) and 10 mL min(-1), respectively. Our studies further show that the microfluidic PID was able to detect analytes down to the picogram level (at 3σ of noise) and had a linear dynamic range of six orders of magnitude. Finally, because of the very short distance between the electrodes, low voltage (<10 VDC, over 10 times lower than that in a regular PID) can be used for microfluidic PID operation. This work will open a door to broad applications of PIDs in gas analyzers, in particular, micro-GC and multi-dimensional GC.

A microfabricated optofluidic ring resonator for sensitive, high-speed detection of volatile organic compounds

Advances in microanalytical systems for multi-vapor determinations to date have been impeded by limitations associated with the microsensor technologies employed. Here we introduce a microfabricated optofluidic ring resonator (μOFRR) sensor that addresses many of these limitations. The μOFRR combines vapor sensing and fluidic transport functions in a monolithic microstructure comprising a hollow, vertical SiOx cylinder (250 μm i.d., 1.2 μm wall thickness; 85 μm height) with a central quasi-toroidal mode-confinement section, grown and partially released from a Si substrate. The device also integrates on-chip fluidic-interconnection and fiber-optic probe alignment features. High-Q whispering gallery modes generated with a tunable 1550 nm laser exhibit rapid, reversible shifts in resonant wavelength arising from polymer swelling and refractive index changes as vapors partition into the ~300 nm PDMS film lining the cylinder. Steady-state sensor responses varied in proportion to concentration over a 50-fold range for the five organic vapors tested, providing calculated detection limits as low as 0.5 ppm (v/v) (for m-xylene and ethylbenzene). In dynamic exposure tests, responses to 5 μL injected m-xylene vapor pulses were 710 ms wide and were only 18% broader than those from a reference flame-ionization detector and also varied linearly with injected mass; 180 pg was measured and the calculated detection limit was 49 pg without use of preconcentration or split injection, at a flow rate compatible with efficient chromatographic separations. Coupling of this μOFRR with a micromachined gas chromatographic separation column is demonstrated.

Microfabricated gas chromatograph for rapid, trace-level determinations of gas-phase explosive marker compounds

A prototype microfabricated gas chromatograph (μGC) adapted specifically for the rapid determination of selected gas-phase marker compounds of the explosive 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT) at sub-parts-per-billion (<ppb) concentrations in complex mixtures is described. Si-microfabricated focuser, separation column, and sensor array components are integrated with a high-volume sampler of conventional construction to reduce analysis time and the limit of detection (LOD). The primary markers selected as target analytes were 2,4-dinitrotoluene (2,4-DNT, a persistent impurity of TNT) and 2,3-dimethyl-2,3-dinitrobutane (DMNB, a taggant), along with 2,6-dinitrotoluene (2,6-DNT, a less-prominent TNT impurity), which was also included in numerous tests. Selective preconcentration, on-column focusing, temperature-programmed chromatographic separation, and sensor array detection/recognition facilitated determinations of the primary markers in the presence of 20 (or more) interferences within ∼2 min under laptop control. Estimated LODs of 2.2, 0.48, and 0.86 ng were achieved for DMNB, 2,6-DNT, and 2,4-DNT, respectively, which correspond to 0.30, 0.067, and 0.12 ppb in each 1-L air sample collected.