Designing solid optical sensors for in situ passive discrimination of volatile amines based on a new one step hydrophilic PDMS preparation
Abstract 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 (Campins Falco et al. [1]