Synthesis and characterisation of a low-cost sensor based on polymer nanocomposite for monitoring the level of pollution in different zones and its cross-validation using UV-LIPS technique

ABSTRACT

Nowadays Eco-friendly nano-composite film used as a sensor for environmental pollutionand photochemical applications is one of the most significant kinds of optoelectronics and industrial polymer materials. Thus, nano-composite samples of low-cost polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) doped with various concentrations of the copper nanoparticles (CuNPs) were perfectly synthesised to be used as a sensor for monitoring the level of pollution in different zones. The influence of environmental changes in the optical and spectroscopic properties of Cu²⁺/PVAwas studied. The optical band energy gapsfor samples at very low, low and high pollution zone cities were estimated using UV-VIS spectra. The optical microscopy (OM) images displayed excellent compatibility and homogeneous spreading of PVA film doped with 500 ppm Cu NPs in the composite. In addition, the immiscibility and colour of Cu²⁺/PVA were great variances with the variation of pollution percentages. These variations may be resulting from the creation of copper oxide and the existence of toxic elements, greater humidity and high temperature in this zone. The nano-composite polymer in various polluted zones was characterised viaUV-laser induced plasma spectroscopy (UV-LIPS) techniquefor monitoring the level of pollution through the qualitative and quantitative analysis of trace and major elements that exist in the polymer films. The detected elements in the Cu²⁺/PVA films were perfect-identified as copper, carbon, chromium, cadmium, zirconium, tantalum, lead, zinc, arsenic, lithium, selenium, phosphorus, hydrogen and oxygen. The recorded spectra of the nano-compositecontain the spectral lines of elements. We validated the precision of UV-LIPS results for determining the concentration of copper in polymer films by using a typical method such as the inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES).The variation of plasma parameters with the gate delay in different polluted zones has also been investigated.

KEYWORDS:

• PVA polymer
• CuNPs
• electrical and optical properties
• Nd:YAG laser
• UV-LIPS

Acknowledgments

This study is supported by the National Institute of Laser Enhanced Sciences (NILES), Cairo University, Egypt, and the Egyptian Electricity Holding Company, Ministry of Electricity, Cairo, Egypt and the Deanship of Scientific Research (DSR) at Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Dammam, 31441, Saudi Arabia

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.