Identification and Quantitation of Aqueous Single- and Multianalyte Solutions of the Isomers Ethylbenzene, m-, p-, and o-Xylene Using a Single Specifically Tailored Sensor Coating and Estimation Theory-Based Signal Processing

Authors

Nicholas Post, Marquette University
Florian Bender, Marquette UniversityFollow
Fabien Josse, Marquette UniversityFollow
Edwin E. Yaz, Marquette UniversityFollow
Antonio J. Ricco, Stanford University

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

7-2022

Publisher

American Chemical Society

Source Publication

ACS Sensors

Source ISSN

2379-3694

Original Item ID

DOI: 10.1021/acssensors.2c01024

Abstract

The isomer-specific detection and quantitation of m-, p-, and o-xylene and ethylbenzene, dissolved singly and as mixtures in aqueous solutions at concentrations from 100 to 1200 ppb by volume, is reported for a specifically designed polymer-plasticizer coating on a shear-horizontal surface acoustic wave (SH-SAW) device. The polystyrene-ditridecyl phthalate-blend coating was designed utilizing Hansen solubility parameters and considering the dipole moment and polarizability of the analytical targets and coating components to optimize the affinity of the sensor coating for the four chemical isomers. The two key coating sorption properties, sensitivity and response time constant, are determined by the (slightly different) dipole moments and polarizabilities of the four target analytes: as analyte dipole moment decreases, coating sensitivity increases; as analyte polarizability decreases, coating response time lengthens. Using the measured sensitivities and time constants for the targets, sensor signals were processed with exponentially weighted recursive-least-squares estimation (EW-RLSE) to identify (with near 100% accuracy) and quantify (with ± 5–7% accuracy) the isomers. This impressive performance was achieved by combining the specifically tailored, high-sensitivity coating and an SH-SAW platform (yielding a detection limit of 5 ppb for the analytes) and using the EW-RLS estimator, which estimates unknown parameters accurately even in the presence of measurement noise and for analytes with only minor differences in response. Identification of the xylene isomers is important for applications including environmental monitoring and chemical manufacturing.

Comments

Accepted version. ACS Sensors, Vol. 7, No. 8 (July 2022): 2379-2386. DOI. © 2022 American Chemical Society. Used with permission.

Recommended Citation

Post, Nicholas; Bender, Florian; Josse, Fabien; Yaz, Edwin E.; and Ricco, Antonio J., "Identification and Quantitation of Aqueous Single- and Multianalyte Solutions of the Isomers Ethylbenzene, m-, p-, and o-Xylene Using a Single Specifically Tailored Sensor Coating and Estimation Theory-Based Signal Processing" (2022). Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research and Publications. 756.
https://epublications.marquette.edu/electric_fac/756