Preparation of SiO_2@Au nanorod array as novel surface enhanced Raman substrate for trace pollutants detection

An effective surface enhanced Raman scattering（SERS） substrate is designed and fabricated by synthesis of Si O2 nanorods array via glancing angle deposition, followed by coating Au nanoparticles onto Si O2 surface in order to create numerous ＂hot spots＂. The detecting sensitivity of such substrate could be optimized by simply adjusting the deposition time of Au. Thus, it can be used for detection of Rhodamine 6G at concentration as low as 10^-9M. Furthermore, our SERS substrate is applied to detect 5 μg/g polychlorinated biphenyls in soil sample, which proves its potential for trace environmental pollutants detection.

Application of Optical Hydrogels in Environmental Sensing

The ever-increasing complexity of environmental pollutants urgently warrants the development of new detection technologies.Sensors based on the optical properties of hydrogels enabling fast and easy in situ detection are attracting increasing attention.In this paper,the data from 138 papers about different optical hydrogels(OHs)are extracted for statistical analysis.The detection performance and potential of various types of OHs in different environmental pollutant detection scenarios were evaluated and compared to those obtained using the standard detection method.Based on this analysis,the target recognition and sensing mechanisms of two main types of OHs are reviewed and discussed:photonic crystal hydrogels(PCHs)and fluorescent hydrogels(FHs).For PCHs,the environmental stimulus response,target receptors,inverse opal structures,and molecular imprinting techniques related to PCHs are reviewed and summarized.Furthermore,the different types of fluorophores(i.e.,compound probes,biomacromolecules,quantum dots,and luminescent microbes)of FHs are discussed.Finally,the potential academic research directions to address the challenges of applying and developing OHs in environmental sensing are proposed,including the fusion of various OHs,introduction of the latest technologies in various fields to the construction of OHs,and development of multifunctional sensor arrays.

Optical characteristics and environmental pollutants detection of porous silicon microcavities

Porous silicon microcavities (PSM) optical crystals consisting of a Fabry-Perot microcavity embedded between two distributed Bragg reflectors have been fabricated by electrochemical etching. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) clearly depicted their physical sandwich construction. The optical feature of the PSM structure was tuned by varying the anodization parameters. Through proper thermal oxidation and surface chemical modifications, the resulting structures were employed as optical sensors for the detection of environmental pollutants including volatile organic vapors (i.e. acetonitrile, toluene, cyclohexane, chloroform, acetone and ethanol) and interior decoration gases (i.e. toluene, ammonia and formaldehyde). Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) spectra confirmed the effective thermal annealing and surface modification chemistry, and the sensing process was accompanied by recording the modified structures' optical responses when exposed to target analytes. The PSM optical sensors showed good stability, sensitivity and selectivity, implying promising applications in gas sensing and en- vironmental monitoring.

Robust Nonsingular Fixed Time Terminal Sliding Mode Control for Atmospheric Pollution Detection Lidar Scanning Mechanism

A robust nonsingular fixed time terminal sliding mode control scheme with a time delay disturbance observer is proposed for atmospheric pollution detection lidar scanning mechanism(APDL-SM)system.Distinguished from the conventional terminal sliding mode control methods,the authors design a novel fixed-time terminal sliding surface,the convergence time of sliding mode phase of which has a constant upper bound that is designable by adjusting only one parameter.Moreover,in order to overcome the problem of unknown upper bound of lumped uncertainty including model uncertainty,friction effect and external disturbances from the port environment,the authors propose a time delay disturbance observer to provide an estimation for the system lumped uncertainty.By using the Lyapunov synthesis,the explicit analysis of the convergence time upper bound are performed.Finally,simulation studies are conducted on the APDL-SM system to show the fast convergence rate and strong robustness of the proposed control scheme.

Rapid analysis of trace pollutants using laser mass spectrometry

Organic pollution has been gaining more and more attention.Yet,at present the determination of virtually all of them,including polycyclic aromatic carbons (PAHs),the largest single class of chemical carcinogens known today,is made via pre-purification and pre-concentration.The major problems are complexity and time-consuming,thus,no ideal real-time on-line monitoring can be done.Laser mass spectrometry combines UV spectroscopy and time-of-flight mass spectrometry (TOF-MS) through resonance-enhanced multiphoton ionization (REMPI).It is characteristic of high sensitivity,high selectivity and rapidity.In this paper,after its principles,a small mobile laser mass spectrometer,in which a mini-excimer (KrF,248 nm) laser was used,is introduced.Real-time analysis of vehicle exhaust gas was made using this instrument,and the results showed some advantages over traditional methods:multicomponent detection,including benzene,toluene,xylene,C3-benzene,naphthalene,and methyl-naphthalene; high sensitivity (100 ppb);high time-resolution (0.1 s);and no need for pre-purification or pre-concentration of samples.

Fluorescent probe gold nanodots to quick detect Cr(VI) via oxidoreduction quenching process

A method is described here for the quickly(<30 s) accurate determination of Cr(VI)(Cr_2O_7^(2-)), based on fluorescent probes gold nanodots(AuNDs, excitation/emission peaks at 395/604 nm) coated with glutathione(GSH). The fluorescence of the AuNDs responses linearly to Cr(VI) concentrations, ranging widely from 1 nM to 10 m M with detection limit as low as 0.35 nM. At the same time, the AuNDs is demonstrated highly selective for Cr(VI) detection over other acid group ions and metal ions without any masking reagent. These make probability for practical use. The quenching mechanism is investigated deeply via fluorescent lifetime, XPS and TEM analysis. Different from most reported quenching explanation of aggregation derived from charge attraction, these results verify the redox reaction between Cr_2O_7^(2-)and sulfhydryl(–S) of GSH. The Au(I)–S bonds of AuNDs broke, accompanies with the oxidation of –S to form S–S bonds. As a result, AuNDs cross linked to each other. In the end, the fluorescence quenched. Attractively, the present study provides a new strategy for pollutant detection, such as from harmful Cr(VI) of Cr_2O_7^(2-)to nontoxic Cr(III).

A School of Robotic Fish for Mariculture Monitoring in the Sea Coast

This paper presents a multi-agent robotic fish system used for mariculture monitoring. Autonomous robotic fish is designed to swim underwater to collect marine information such as water temperature and pollution level. Each robotic fish has 5 degrees of freedom for controlling its depth and speed by milnicking a sea carp. Its bionic body design enables it to have high swimming efficiency and less disturbance to the surrounding sea lives. Several onboard sensors are equipped for autonomous 3D naviga- tion tasks such as path planning, obstacle avoidance and depth maintenance. A robotic buoy floating on the water surface is deployed as a control hub to communicate with individual robots, which in turn form a multi-agent system to monitor and cover a large scale sea coast cooperatively. Both laboratory experiments and field testing have been conducted to verify the feasibility and performance of the proposed multi-agent system.