Detection of butylamine by means of surface plasmon resonance

The detection of butylamine as a malodorous substance was investigated by a surface plasmon resonance (SPR) sensor. When the A zeolite thin film on a gold surface via the thiol–alkoxysilane interfacial layers was formed, the resonance angle changed from 22.30° to 69.24°. Moreover, the anchored zeolite layers were exposed to butylamine, the shifts of the incident angle (Δθ) were observed. The Δθ increased linearly with the gas concentration region of 0% to about 1%. The sensitivity of butylamine was lowest among some amines. Also, the sensitivity depended on the kind of zeolite as follows; the sequence was 13X zeolite > 5A zeolite ≈ mordenite > ZSM-5.