Optical Vapor Sensing on Single Wing Scales and on Whole Wings of the Albulina metallica Butterfly

Fast, chemically-selective sensing of vapors using an optical readout can be achieved with the photonic nanoarchitectures occurring in the wing scales of butterflies possessing structural color. These nanoarchitectures are built of chitin and air. The Albulina metallica butterfly is remarkable as both the dorsal (blue) and ventral (gold-green) cover scales are colored by the same type (pepper-pot) of photonic nanoarchitecture, exhibiting only a short-range order. The vapors of ten different volatiles were tested for sensing on whole wing pieces and some of the volatiles were tested on single scales as well, both in reflected and transmitted light. Chemically-selective responses were obtained showing that selectivity can be increased by using arrays of sensors. The sensing behavior is similar in single scales and on whole wing pieces, and is similar in reflected and transmitted light. By immersing single scales in an index-matching fluid for chitin, both the light scattering and the photonic nanoarchitecture were switched off, and the differences in pigment content were revealed. By artificially stacking several layers of blue scales on top of each other, both the intensity of the characteristic photonic signal in air and the magnitude of the vapor sensing response for 50% ethanol vapor in artificial air were increased.

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Optical Detection of Vapor Mixtures Using Structurally Colored Butterfly and Moth Wings

Sensors ◽

10.3390/s19143058 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 19 (14) ◽

pp. 3058 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Gábor Piszter ◽

Krisztián Kertész ◽

Zsolt Bálint ◽

László Péter Biró

Keyword(s):

Capillary Condensation ◽

Principal Component ◽

Sensor Material ◽

Conformal Change ◽

Vapor Sensing ◽

Optical Responses ◽

Surrounding Atmosphere ◽

Vapor Mixtures ◽

Chemically Selective ◽

Wing Scales

Photonic nanoarchitectures in the wing scales of butterflies and moths are capable of fast and chemically selective vapor sensing due to changing color when volatile vapors are introduced to the surrounding atmosphere. This process is based on the capillary condensation of the vapors, which results in the conformal change of the chitin-air nanoarchitectures and leads to a vapor-specific optical response. Here, we investigated the optical responses of the wing scales of several butterfly and moth species when mixtures of different volatile vapors were applied to the surrounding atmosphere. We found that the optical responses for the different vapor mixtures fell between the optical responses of the two pure solvents in all the investigated specimens. The detailed evaluation, using principal component analysis, showed that the butterfly-wing-based sensor material is capable of differentiating between vapor mixtures as the structural color response was found to be characteristic for each of them.

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Modeling the Reflectance Changes Induced by Vapor Condensation in Lycaenid Butterfly Wing Scales Colored by Photonic Nanoarchitectures

Nanomaterials ◽

10.3390/nano9050759 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 9 (5) ◽

pp. 759 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Géza I. Márk ◽

Krisztián Kertész ◽

Gábor Piszter ◽

Zsolt Bálint ◽

László P. Biró

Keyword(s):

Photonic Band Gap ◽

Ethanol Vapor ◽

Vapor Condensation ◽

Reflectance Spectra ◽

Structural Color ◽

Vapor Concentration ◽

Butterfly Species ◽

Air Voids ◽

Lycaenid Butterfly ◽

Wing Scales

Gas/vapor sensors based on photonic band gap-type materials are attractive as they allow a quick optical readout. The photonic nanoarchitectures responsible for the coloration of the wing scales of many butterfly species possessing structural color exhibit chemical selectivity, i.e., give vapor-specific optical response signals. Modeling this complex physical-chemical process is very important to be able to exploit the possibilities of these photonic nanoarchitectures. We performed measurements of the ethanol vapor concentration-dependent reflectance spectra of the Albulina metallica butterfly, which exhibits structural color on both the dorsal (blue) and ventral (gold-green) wing sides. Using a numerical analysis of transmission electron microscopy (TEM) images, we revealed the details of the photonic nanoarchitecture inside the wing scales. On both sides, it is a 1D + 2D structure, a stack of layers, where the layers contain a quasi-ordered arrangement of air voids embedded in chitin. Next, we built a parametric simulation model that matched the measured spectra. The reflectance spectra were calculated by ab-initio methods by assuming variable amounts of vapor condensed to liquid in the air voids, as well as vapor concentration-dependent swelling of the chitin. From fitting the simulated results to the measured spectra, we found a similar swelling on both wing surfaces, but more liquid was found to concentrate in the smaller air voids for each vapor concentration value measured.

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Temperature and saturation dependence in the vapor sensing of butterfly wing scales

Materials Science and Engineering C ◽

10.1016/j.msec.2014.03.014 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 39 ◽

pp. 221-226 ◽

Cited By ~ 17

Author(s):

K. Kertész ◽

G. Piszter ◽

E. Jakab ◽

Zs. Bálint ◽

Z. Vértesy ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Butterfly Wing ◽

Vapor Sensing ◽

Wing Scales

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Design and Synthesis of Novel 2D Porous Zinc Oxide-Nickel Oxide Composite Nanosheets for Detecting Ethanol Vapor

Nanomaterials ◽

10.3390/nano10101989 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 10 (10) ◽

pp. 1989

Author(s):

Yuan-Chang Liang ◽

Yen-Cheng Chang ◽

Wei-Cheng Zhao

Keyword(s):

Zinc Oxide ◽

Nickel Oxide ◽

Active Sites ◽

Gas Sensing ◽

Ethanol Vapor ◽

Gas Diffusion ◽

High Specific Surface Area ◽

Sputtering Deposition ◽

Vapor Sensing ◽

Sensing Performance

The porous zinc oxide-nickel oxide (ZnO-NiO) composite nanosheets were synthesized via sputtering deposition of NiO thin film on the porous ZnO nanosheet templates. Various NiO film coverage sizes on porous ZnO nanosheet templates were achieved by changing NiO sputtering duration in this study. The microstructures of the porous ZnO-NiO composite nanosheets were investigated herein. The rugged surface feature of the porous ZnO-NiO composite nanosheets were formed and thicker NiO coverage layer narrowed the pore size on the ZnO nanosheet template. The gas sensors based on the porous ZnO-NiO composite nanosheets displayed higher sensing responses to ethanol vapor in comparison with the pristine ZnO template at the given target gas concentrations. Furthermore, the porous ZnO-NiO composite nanosheets with the suitable NiO coverage content demonstrated superior gas-sensing performance towards 50–750 ppm ethanol vapor. The observed ethanol vapor-sensing performance might be attributed to suitable ZnO/NiO heterojunction numbers and unique porous nanosheet structure with a high specific surface area, providing abundant active sites on the surface and numerous gas diffusion channels for the ethanol vapor molecules. This study demonstrated that coating of NiO on the porous ZnO nanosheet template with a suitable coverage size via sputtering deposition is a promising route to fabricate porous ZnO-NiO composite nanosheets with a high ethanol vapor sensing ability.

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

Sensors ◽

10.3390/s110908643 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 11 (9) ◽

pp. 8643-8653 ◽

Cited By ~ 32

Author(s):

Wenying Ma ◽

Huan Yang ◽

Weimin Wang ◽

Ping Gao ◽

Jun Yao

Keyword(s):

Surface Plasmon Resonance ◽

Surface Plasmon ◽

Plasmon Resonance ◽

Localized Surface Plasmon Resonance ◽

Ethanol Vapor ◽

Localized Surface Plasmon ◽

Silver Nanostructures ◽

Sensing Properties ◽

Vapor Sensing

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ETHANOL VAPOR SENSING PROPERTIES OF ZnO/CuO NANOCOMPOSITES

Vietnam Journal of Science and Technology ◽

10.15625/2525-2518/54/1a/11816 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 54 (1A) ◽

pp. 120 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Do Duc Tho

Keyword(s):

Ethanol Vapor ◽

Nanocomposite Materials ◽

Vapor Concentration ◽

Optimum Temperature ◽

Wet Chemical Method ◽

Sensing Properties ◽

Si Substrates ◽

Vapor Sensing ◽

Wet Chemical ◽

20 Nm

CuO leaf-like with thickness of 20 nm, and ZnO plates with thickness of 40 nm have been successfully prepared through a wet chemical method. The two materials were mixed with different weight ratios (CuO/ZnO) to produce nanocomposite materials. Ethanol vapor sensing properties of films derived from obtained materials on SiO2/Si substrates attached with Pt interdigitated electrodes were investigated at operating temperatures in the range of 250 C – 400 C and ethanol vapor concentration in the range of 125 - 1500 ppm. The results showed that the composite of 30 wt% CuO/70 wt% ZnO exhibited the highest response to ethanol vapor at an optimum temperature of 375 oC.

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Vapor detection through dynamic process of molecule desorption from butterfly wings

Pure and Applied Chemistry ◽

10.1515/pac-2019-0118 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 92 (2) ◽

pp. 223-232

Author(s):

Zhen Luo ◽

Zhaoyue Weng ◽

Qingchen Shen ◽

Shun An ◽

Jiaqing He ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Butterfly Wing ◽

Detection Mechanism ◽

Vapor Detection ◽

Desorption Process ◽

Mixing Ratios ◽

Vapor Sensing ◽

Butterfly Wings ◽

Components Analysis ◽

Morpho Butterfly ◽

Wing Scales

AbstractThis work explores an alternative vapor sensing mechanism through analyzing dynamic desorption process from butterfly wings for the differentiation of both individual and mixed vapors quantitatively. Morpho butterfly wings have been used in differentiating individual vapors, but it is challenging to use them for the differentiation of mixed vapor quantitatively. This paper demonstrates the use of Morpho butterfly wings for the sensitive and selective detection of closely related vapors in mixtures. Principal components analysis (PCA) is used to process the reflectance spectra of the wing scales during dynamic desorption of different vapors. With the desorption-based detection mechanism, individual vapors with different concentrations and mixed vapors with different mixing ratios can be differentiated using the butterfly wing based sensors. Both the original butterfly wings and butterfly wings with surface modification show the capability in distinguishing vapors in mixtures, which may offer a guideline for further improving selectivity and sensitivity of bioinspired sensors.

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Investigating NiO nanostructures in ethanol vapor sensing by changing the morphology

Applied Physics A ◽

10.1007/s00339-018-2080-9 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 124 (9) ◽

Author(s):

L. Torkian ◽

R. Azimirad ◽

Saeed Safa

Keyword(s):

Ethanol Vapor ◽

Vapor Sensing

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Vapor Selectivity of a Natural Photonic Crystal to Binary and Tertiary Mixtures Containing Chemical Warfare Agent Simulants

Sensors ◽

10.3390/s20010157 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 20 (1) ◽

pp. 157 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Joshua Kittle ◽

Benjamin Fisher ◽

Courtney Kunselman ◽

Aimee Morey ◽

Andrea Abel

Keyword(s):

Photonic Crystals ◽

Chemical Warfare Agent ◽

Nerve Agent ◽

Chemical Warfare ◽

Mustard Gas ◽

Dimethyl Methylphosphonate ◽

Vapor Sensing ◽

Sensitivity Level ◽

Vapor Mixtures ◽

Wing Scales

Vapor sensing via light reflected from photonic crystals has been increasingly studied as a means to rapidly identify analytes, though few studies have characterized vapor mixtures or chemical warfare agent simulants via this technique. In this work, light reflected from the natural photonic crystals found within the wing scales of the Morpho didius butterfly was analyzed after exposure to binary and tertiary mixtures containing dimethyl methylphosphonate, a nerve agent simulant, and dichloropentane, a mustard gas simulant. Distinguishable spectra were generated with concentrations tested as low as 30 ppm and 60 ppm for dimethyl methylphosphonate and dichloropentane, respectively. Individual vapors, as well as mixtures, yielded unique responses over a range of concentrations, though the response of binary and tertiary mixtures was not always found to be additive. Thus, while selective and sensitive to vapor mixtures containing chemical warfare agent simulants, this technique presents challenges to identifying these simulants at a sensitivity level appropriate for their toxicity.

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