Plasmonics Based Harsh Environment Compatible Chemical Sensor: Using Au nanoparticles as Optical Beacons
EMSL Project ID
34895
Abstract
The development of novel harsh environment compatible chemical sensing technologies is of critical need for optimal control of future zero and low emission power production as current sensor technologies cannot withstand these environments. The plasmonic properties of gold nanoparticles within metal oxide matrices have been shown to be dependent on changes in emission gas concentrations within harsh environmental conditions. These studies will be expanded to include both ionic and mixed ionic-electrically conductive metal oxide host materials with the aim of increasing the sensitivity and selectivity towards the detection of emission gases. Gold nanoparticle embedded yttria-stabilized zirconia (Au-YSZ), ceria (Au-CeO2) and Sm doped ceria (Au-Sm-CeO2) nanocomposite films will be deposited on optically transparent sapphire substrates and characterized using XRD, XPS and RBS to determine their corresponding chemistry, microstructure and material uniformity. The gold content will be varied between 5 and 10 at.% and through the variation in deposition methods and processing conditions, studies on the effects of gold particle size, metal oxide grain size, film thickness and gold stratification within the films on the corresponding emission gas sensing properties will be performed. Furthermore, the plasmon band dependence on vacancy density, particle charge and its corresponding time and temperature dependence towards changes in reactive gas concentrations will provide information regarding the interfacial reaction kinetics and activation energies. These studies will enable the further understanding of mixed metal oxide reaction chemistry and will demonstrate how the field of plasmonics can be used as an in-situ optical beacon for interfacial reaction chemistries. Likewise, upon development of a Au nanoparticle-metal oxide film library, these plasmonic based materials could be applied towards future harsh environmental compatible emission gas sensing technologies.
Project Details
Project type
Large-Scale EMSL Research
Start Date
2009-10-14
End Date
2012-09-30
Status
Closed
Released Data Link
Team
Principal Investigator
Team Members
Related Publications
Joy N, MI Nandasiri, PH Rogers, W Jiang, T Varga, SVNT Kuchibhatla, S Thevuthasan, and MA Carpenter. 2012. "Selective Plasmonic Gas Sensing: H2, NO2, and CO Discrimination by a Single Au-CeO2 Nanocomposite Film." Analytical Chemistry 84(11):5025-5034. doi:10.1021/ac3006846
Joy N, PH Rogers, MI Nandasiri, S Thevuthasan, and MA Carpenter. 2012. "Plasmonic Based Sensing Using an Array of Au-Metal Oxide Thin Films." Analytical Chemistry 84(23):10437-10444. doi:10.1021/ac3026477