Fabrication of a Photocurable Highly Sensitive Optical Ammonia Sensor for Aquaculture Application

A simple sensor fabrication process for ammonia fluorescence based optical sensing has been developed by immobilizing fluorescence pair dyes in a UV-photocurable acrylate host polymer matrix. The direct process for optical sensor was designed by entrapping ammonia sensitive components in a certain ratio of acrylate monomers of methyl methacrylate (MMA) and butyl acrylate (BA). The copolymers poly(methyl metha-co-butyl acrylate) (MB) glassy transparent thin film ammonia sensor was photopolymerized under ultra-violet (UV) illumination. The acrylate based host matrix offers rapid curing, ease of preparation, excellent dyes entrapment and self-adhesive properties. The nonplasticized acrylate matrix containing ammonia sensitive components have demonstrated excellent sensitivity towards target analyte with linear sensor response to dissolved ammonia in the range of 1 to 100 mu gL(-1) (R-2 of 0.9) with a limit detection of 1 mu gL(-1) ammonia. The simple single step fabrication of ammonia fluorescence based optical sensor offers great manufacturing capability for aquaculture quality monitoring.