Perylene bisimide anchored palygorskite nanofibers as a solid-state fluorescence sensor for detection of volatile organic compounds

A novel palygorskite (Pal) based fluorescence sensor (Pal-PBS-C 12 ) was developed for the vapor probing of volatile organic compounds. Pal is a naturally occurred fibrous phyllosilicate mineral and it acts as a supporting substrate in the fluorescence sensory material. Perylene-3,4,9,10-tetracarboxylic dianhydride (PBS), playing the role of fluorescence probe, was grafted to Pal. With further introduction of the hydrophobic n-dodecylamine group, the organic affinity of the sensory material was dramatically improved. The PAL-PBS-C 12 material exhibited good sensitivity, photostability, and selectivity in solid-state fluorescence probing performance tests for organic vapors. Different from the traditional sensors, which show fluorescence diminishment upon contact with target molecules, the reported material exhibited fluorescence enhancement after contact with polar organic vapors. The mechanism of the fluorescence enhancement was proposed.