Ethanol vapor sensing properties of triangular silver nanostructures based on localized surface plasmon resonance

A sensitive volatile organic vapor sensor based on the LSPR properties of silver triangular nanoprisms is proposed in this paper. The triangular nanoprisms were fabricated by a nanosphere lithography (NSL) method. They have sharp vertices and edges, and are arranged in an ideal hexangular array. These characteristics ensure that they exhibit an excellent LSPR spectrum and a high sensitivity to the exterior environment changes. The LSPR spectra responding to ethanol vapor and four other volatile organic vapors-acetone, benzene, hexane and propanol-were measured with a UV-vis spectrometer in real time. Compared with the other four vapors, ethanol exhibits the highest sensitivity (∼0.1 nm/mg L(-1)) and the lowest detection limit (∼10 mg/L) in the spectral tests. The ethanol vapor test process is also fast (∼4 s) and reversible. These insights demonstrate that the triangular nanoprism based nano-sensor can be used in ethanol vapor detection applications.