Dissolved oxygen (DO) testing is imperative for variety of applications, which need regulated levels of oxygen to determine the quality and safety of its products and environment. These can involve testing foods, beverages, pharmaceuticals, bloods, and the quality of water. DO in water levels is a very important parameter to regulate its safety quality. To measure the levels of DO, Clark electrodes and luminescent based optical sensors are normally used. The luminophores used in these special probes detected the DO in samples which operate on the luminescence quenching principles of triplet-triplet annihilation. The problem with turn-off luminescence based probes are their complications with detecting and following minute changes in the DO. In our study, we use newly synthesized Graphene Oxide/Zinc Oxide (GO/ZnO) nanocomposites as turn-on luminescence sensors for DO. The GO/ZnO nanocomposites are sensitive to the oxygen levels in different solvents. Fluorescence luminescence measurements were carried out to observe the trap state luminescence and bande dge luminescence intensities. Luminescence in these nanocomposites arise from the filled and empty oxygen vacancies within the ZnO nanoparticles' systems. The ratiomeric sensing of trap state luminescence over band edge luminescence is observed in different organic solvent environments that further enhanced the sensing ability of the nano composites to DO. Furthermore, ultrafast luminescence studies are carried out to characterize newly synthesized nano composite systems.

Graphene oxide/zinc oxide nanocomposites as dissolved oxygen sensors

247th National Meeting (2014)

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