Publications

Development of a sensor for polypropylene degradation products

Dirk, Shawn M.; Sawyer, P.S.; Hochrein, James M.; Washburn, Cody M.; Howell, Stephen W.; Graf, Darin C.

This paper presents the development of a sensor to detect the oxidative and radiation induced degradation of polypropylene. Recently we have examined the use of crosslinked assemblies of nanoparticles as a chemiresistor-type sensor for the degradation products. We have developed a simple method that uses a siloxane matrix to fabricate a chemiresistor-type sensor that minimizes the swelling transduction mechanism while optimizing the change in dielectric response. These sensors were exposed with the use of a gas chromatography system to three previously identified polypropylene degradation products including 4-methyl-2-pentanone, acetone, and 2-pentanone. The limits of detection 210 ppb for 4-methy-2-pentanone, 575 ppb for 2-pentanone, and the LoD was unable to be determined for acetone due to incomplete separation from the carbon disulfide carrier.