In-line measurement of dissolved acetone using a nanoestructured optical sensor

In this paper we present a method for measuring dissolved acetone by employing a new sensor based on luminescent nanocrystals and a ratiometric measurement. The developed sensor shows an excitation peak at 280 nm and a long lived emission at 590 nm by adding Mn in the synthesis process. The sensor was immobilized in a low luminescent sol-gel matrix. In presence of acetone, the intensity of the long lived emission decreases; however, its decay time is always the same. A measurement method based on employing the luminescence of the solid support as reference is presented. Experimental results have been obtained using a deep UV-LED as the excitation light source and a lab prototype for measuring intensities and phase shifts using GPIB instruments.