Investigation of environmentally volatile pollutants sensing using pillar[5]arene-based macrocycle Langmuir–Blodgett film

Abstract

This study presented that a novel pillar[5]arene-appended salicylaldehyde (P5-S) was structured in a suitable cavity, which plays an important role in macrocyclic host-guest interactions. P5-S thin films were fabricated and characterized via Langmuir-Blodgett (LB), UV-vis spectrophotometer and quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) techniques, respectively. A QCM sensor deposited with an LB thin film of P5-S macrocyclic molecule was used as a sensitive material for the detection of aliphatic chlorinated hydrocarbons and aromatic hydrocarbons such as carbon tetrachloride, chloroform, dichloromethane and benzene, toluene and m-xylene vapors, respectively. These harmful organic vapors are a source of danger to the environment and are a group of important environmental pollutants. Similar tests were performed with surface plasmon resonance (SPR) technique, and SPR kinetic results were obtained in good agreement with QCM kinetic results. Also, the sensitivity and detection performance of the P5-S QCM chemical sensor to six different pollutants were determined.