Development of regenerative dye impregnated mesoporous silica materials for assessing exposure to ammonia

The mesostructured materials MCM-41 and SBA-15 were studied as possible supports of bromocresol green (BG) dye impregnation for the ammonia gas detection because of their large surface area, high regenerative property, and high thermal stability. X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, scanning electron microscope, and N2 adsorption analysis were used to characterize the prepared materials. These materials could sense ammonia via visible color change from yellowish-orange to blue color. The color change process of the nanostructured materials was fully reversible during 10 cyclic tests. The results indicated that the ammonia absorption responses of the two nanostructured materials were both very sensitive, and high linear correlation and high precision were achieved. As the gaseous ammonia concentrations were 50 and 5 ppmv, the response times for the SBA-15/BG were only 1 and 5 min, respectively. Moreover the BG dye-impregnated SBA-15 was less affected by the variation in the relative humidity. It also had faster response for the detection of NH3, as well as lower manufacturing price as compared to that of the dye-impregnated MCM-41. Such feature enables SBA-15/BG to be a very promising material for the detection of ammonia gas.