Optical sensing properties towards ethanol vapors of Au-polyimide nanocomposite films synthesized by different chemical routes

Abstract

Nanocomposite films containing Au nanoparticles embedded in a fluorinated polyimide (BPDA-3F) were prepared by two different chemical routes and the synthesis was followed by the estimation of the optical sensing capability of the samples in ethanol vapors. This work arises from the well-known ascertainment that optochemical sensing of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) using MNP (metal nanoparticles) characteristic surface plasmon resonance (SPR) absorption peak as the sensing probe is an attractive technique for its simplicity, high stability and sensitivity [1, 2]. © 2010 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.