Textile-Based Volatile Organic Compound Sensors Using Cellulose Fabrics and Direct Dyes

Abstract

In order to fabricate colorimetric textile sensors detecting gas phase of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), 11 kinds of direct dyes were investigated for 13 types of VOCs. Direct Violet 51 was chosen for its best sensing performance both instrumentally and visibly. Direct Violet 51 exhibited the change of color strength and color hue by exposure VOCs. The dyed cotton fabrics detected polar VOCs well, especially N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF). The colorimetric cotton-based textile sensor dyed with Direct Violet 51 exhibited approximately 10 of color difference (ΔE) under 10 ppm DMF gas within 100 min, and the maximum absorption wavelength was shifted from 560 nm to 530 nm. The sensing mechanisms could be summarized in three factors: solvatochromism and aggregative characteristics from the point of view of dye, and adsorption amount of VOCs for fabric. The colorimetric textile sensor retained its sensing performance after 10 cycle tests.

Keywords

• volatile organic compounds sensor
• solid-solvatochromism
• color difference
• aggregation
• vapochromism