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Vol. 17 (2025)

Carbon Dots-Modified Hollow Mesoporous Photonic Crystal Materials for Sensitivity- and Selectivity-Enhanced Sensing of Chloroform Vapor

https://doi.org/10.1007/s40820-024-01598-9
Junchen Liu
State Laboratory On Integrated Optoelectronics, College of Electronic Science and Engineering, Jilin University, Changchun 130012, People’s Republic of China
Ji Liu
State Laboratory On Integrated Optoelectronics, College of Electronic Science and Engineering, Jilin University, Changchun 130012, People’s Republic of China
Zhipeng Li
State Laboratory On Integrated Optoelectronics, College of Electronic Science and Engineering, Jilin University, Changchun 130012, People’s Republic of China
Liupeng Zhao
State Laboratory On Integrated Optoelectronics, College of Electronic Science and Engineering, Jilin University, Changchun 130012, People’s Republic of China
Tianshuang Wang
State Laboratory On Integrated Optoelectronics, College of Electronic Science and Engineering, Jilin University, Changchun 130012, People’s Republic of China
Xu Yan
State Laboratory On Integrated Optoelectronics, College of Electronic Science and Engineering, Jilin University, Changchun 130012, People’s Republic of China
Fangmeng Liu
State Laboratory On Integrated Optoelectronics, College of Electronic Science and Engineering, Jilin University, Changchun 130012, People’s Republic of China
Xiaomin Li
Department of Chemistry and Laboratory of Advanced Materials, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Molecular Catalysis and Innovative Materials, State Key Laboratory of Molecular Engineering of Polymers, Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemistry for Energy Materials (2011‑iChEM), College of Chemistry and Materials, Fudan University, Shanghai, People’s Republic of China
Qin Li
School of Engineering and Built Environment, Griffith University, Nathan, QLD 4111, Australia
Peng Sun
State Laboratory On Integrated Optoelectronics, College of Electronic Science and Engineering, Jilin University, Changchun 130012, People’s Republic of China
Geyu Lu
State Laboratory On Integrated Optoelectronics, College of Electronic Science and Engineering, Jilin University, Changchun 130012, People’s Republic of China
Dongyuan Zhao
Department of Chemistry and Laboratory of Advanced Materials, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Molecular Catalysis and Innovative Materials, State Key Laboratory of Molecular Engineering of Polymers, Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemistry for Energy Materials (2011‑iChEM), College of Chemistry and Materials, Fudan University, Shanghai, People’s Republic of China

Corresponding Author: Peng Sun

pengsun@jlu.edu.cn

Nano-Micro Letters, Vol. 17 (2025), Article Number: 96

Abstract

Chloroform and other volatile organic pollutants have garnered widespread attention from the public and researchers, because of their potential harm to the respiratory system, nervous system, skin, and eyes. However, research on chloroform vapor sensing is still in its early stages, primarily due to the lack of specific recognition motif. Here we report a mesoporous photonic crystal sensor incorporating carbon dots-based nanoreceptor (HMSS@CDs-PCs) for enhanced chloroform sensing. The colloidal PC packed with hollow mesoporous silica spheres provides an interconnected ordered macro-meso-hierarchical porous structure, ideal for rapid gas sensing utilizing the photonic bandgap shift as the readout signal. The as-synthesized CDs with pyridinic-N-oxide functional groups adsorbed in the hollow mesoporous silica spheres are found to not only serve as the chloroform adsorption sites, but also a molecular glue that prevents crack formation in the colloidal PC. The sensitivity of HMSS@CDs-PCs sensor is 0.79 nm ppm−1 and an impressively low limit of detection is 3.22 ppm, which are the best reported values in fast-response chloroform vapor sensor without multi-signal assistance. The positive response time is 7.5 s and the negative response time 9 s. Furthermore, relatively stable sensing can be maintained within a relative humidity of 20%–85%RH and temperature of 25–55 °C. This study demonstrates that HMSS@CDs-PCs sensors have practical application potential in indoor and outdoor chloroform vapor detection.


Highlights:
1 Uniform-sized hollow mesoporous silica spheres form colloidal photonic crystals for gas sensing.
2‘Nanoreceptors’ have been introduced for increasing the sensing sensitivity and specificity.
3 A chloroform gas sensor is created with a sensitivity of 0.79 nm ppm−1 with a limit of detection of 3.22 ppm, which are the best reported values in fast-response chloroform vapor sensors without multi-signal assistance.

Keywords

Carbon dots Photonic crystal sensors Sensitivity-enhanced sensing Selectivity-enhanced sensing Chloroform vapor sensing
Liu, Junchen, Ji Liu, Zhipeng Li, Liupeng Zhao, Tianshuang Wang, Xu Yan, Fangmeng Liu, Xiaomin Li, Qin Li, Peng Sun, Geyu Lu, and Dongyuan Zhao. 2024. “Carbon Dots-Modified Hollow Mesoporous Photonic Crystal Materials for Sensitivity- and Selectivity-Enhanced Sensing of Chloroform Vapor”. Nano-Micro Letters 17 (December):96. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40820-024-01598-9.
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