Ethanol Vapor Sensing Properties of Triangular Silver Nanostructures Based on Localized Surface Plasmon Resonance

Abstract

A sensitive volatile organic vapor sensor based on the LSPR properties of silver triangular nanoprisms is proposed in this paper. The triangular nanoprisms were fabricated by a nanosphere lithography (NSL) method. They have sharp vertices and edges, and are arranged in an ideal hexangular array. These characteristics ensure that they exhibit an excellent LSPR spectrum and a high sensitivity to the exterior environment changes. The LSPR spectra responding to ethanol vapor and four other volatile organic vapors—acetone, benzene, hexane and propanol—were measured with a UV-vis spectrometer in real time. Compared with the other four vapors, ethanol exhibits the highest sensitivity (~0.1 nm/mg L−1) and the lowest detection limit (~10 mg/L) in the spectral tests. The ethanol vapor test process is also fast (~4 s) and reversible. These insights demonstrate that the triangular nanoprism based nano-sensor can be used in ethanol vapor detection applications.

Keywords

• localized surface plasmon resonance
• volatile organic vapor
• triangular nanoprism
• sensitivity