Design of Chemical Sensor Coatings Based On Blends of a Single Polymer-Plasticizer Pair for Detection of Single or Multi-Analyte Aqueous Solutions

The design of new, adaptable chemical sensor coatings using a single polymer-plasticizer pair for detection of single or multiple chemical compounds (e.g. BTEX) in aqueous solutions is presented. By modifying blend mixing ratios, the sensing characteristics of the coatings can be varied. Together with extraction of multiple sensing parameters (i.e. shear modulus, sensitivity, response time constant, etc.), this allows for more accurate analyte identification and quantification. Using a selected single polymer-plasticizer pair, several coatings were designed and used to build a sensor array. Sensing data indicates sufficient selectivity for unique identification of single analyte solutions. For solutions of multiple analytes and interferents, a different approach involving a single coated sensor characterized for all possible target chemicals and estimation theory-based multivariate signal processing was implemented. Results show accurate analyte identification and estimation of concentrations for multi-analyte solutions.