Emission Based Sensing of Subnanomolar Dissolved Carbon Dioxide Exploiting Electrospun Nanofibers

In this work, the authors report a novel emission-based optical sensor for dissolved carbon dioxide. Ethyl cellulose has been used together with an imidazolium based ionic liquid as matrix material. Sensors were fabricated either in form of continuous thin films or nanofibers. The offered composition exhibited enhanced stability and excellent detection limits for sensing of bicarbonate. The preliminary analysis of calibration plots show that the sensitivity of electrospun nanofibrous membranes to detect bicarbonate is at least 5-fold better than that of the thin films. The stability of the indicator in the employed matrix was superior to the previously reported ones.