Effects of Surface and Morphological Properties of Zeolite on Impedance Spectroscopy-Based Sensing Performance.docVIP

Sensors 2012, 12, 13284-13294; doi:10.3390/s121013284 OPEN ACCESS sensors ISSN 1424-8220 /journal/sensors Article Effects of Surface and Morphological Properties of Zeolite on Impedance Spectroscopy-Based Sensing Performance Jianwei Zhang 1, Xiaogan Li 1,*, Jeremy White 2 and Prabir K. Dutta 2,* 1 School of Electronic Science and Technology, Key Laboratory of Liaoning for Integrated Circuits Technologies, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian 116024, China; E-Mail: jwzhang@ 2 Department of Chemistry, The Ohio State University, 120 W. 18th Avenue, Columbus, OH 43210, USA; E-Mail: jcwhite@ * Authors to whom correspondence should be addressed; E-Mails: lixg@ (X.L.); dutta.1@ (P.D.); Tel.: +86-411-8470-6710 (X.L.); Fax: +86-411-8470-6706 (X.L.). Received: 18 July 2012; in revised form: 3 September 2012 / Accepted: 20 September 2012 / Published: 1 October 2012 Abstract: Measurement by impedance spectroscopy of the changes in intrazeolitic cation motion of pressed pellets of zeolite particles upon adsorption of dimethylmethylphosphonate (DMMP) provides a strategy for sensing DMMP, a commonly used simulant for highly toxic organophosphate nerve agents. In this work, two strategies for improving the impedance spectroscopy based sensing of DMMP on zeolites were investigated. The first one is the use of cerium oxide (CeO2) coated on the zeolite surface to neutralize acidic groups that may cause the decomposition of DMMP, and results in better sensor recovery. The second strategy was to explore the use of zeolite Y membrane. Compared to pressed pellets, the membranes have connected supercages of much longer length scales. The zeolite membranes resulted in higher sensitivity to DMMP, but recovery of the device was significantly slower as compared to pressed zeolite pellets. Keywords: chemical warfare agents; zeolite membranes; chemical gas sensors 1. Introduction Developing detection strategies for com