Emission based sub-nanomolar silver sensing with electrospun nanofibers

In this work, the first use of electrospun nanofibrous materials as highly responsive fluorescence quenching-based optical silver sensors is reported. Poly(methyl methacrylate) and ethyl cellulose were used as polymeric support materials. Silver sensing materials were fabricated by electrospinning technique. A fiber-optic bundle was used for measurements. Sensors were based on the change in the fluorescence signal intensity of methoxy azomethine ionophore (M-AZM). The preliminary results of Stern–Volmer analysis show that the sensitivities of electrospun nanofibrous membranes to detect silver ions are 10–100-fold higher than those of the thin film based sensors. The extraordinary sensitivities can be attributed to the high surface area of the nanofibrous membrane structures. It was found that the stability of the sensing agent in the employed matrix materials was excellent and when stored in the ambient air of the laboratory there was no significant drift in signal intensity after 5 months. Our stability tests are still in progress.