Some compounds containing luminophores emit visible light after being excited with an external source of energy. Oxygen has the ability to quench the luminescence of various molecular species. Some luminophores can be used then as optical sensors of oxygen, for which a measured change in emission intensity or luminescence lifetime can be attributed to a specific concentration of oxygen flowing through the system. Our group is developing catalytic aerogels for gas conversion, as a potential future replacement for catalytic converters in motor vehicles. If oxygen sensors could be incorporated into catalytic aerogels, there would then be a reliable way to measure the amount of oxygen being converted from gas exhausts such as NO<sub>x</sub>, and a means to evaluate the catalytic activity and oxygen storage performance of the aerogel. In this project, we present the preparation and spectroscopic characterization of silica aerogel monoliths containing one or more types of entrapped luminescent species. Initial work is focusing on oxygen-sensitive platinum porphyrin complexes.  We are characterizing the aerogel-platform sensors to see if it is possible to observe changes in luminescence signal based on the movement of oxygen through the aerogel monoliths. An ambitious goal of this project is to design an in-situ measurement of oxygen in aerogels contained within a catalytic testbed system using spectroscopic methods.

Development of aerogel-platform oxygen sensors for optical measurement in flow-through applications

251st National Meeting (2016)

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