Electronic tongue for nitro and peroxide explosive sensing.

Area of Science:

• Electroanalytical Chemistry
• Chemical Sensing
• Explosives Detection

Background:

• Nitro-based and peroxide-based explosives are prevalent in commercial and improvised devices.
• Simultaneous determination of these explosive classes presents significant analytical challenges.
• Voltammetric electronic tongues offer a promising approach for complex mixture analysis.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and apply a voltammetric electronic tongue (ET) for the simultaneous determination of nitro-containing and peroxide-based explosives.
• To discriminate between individual explosive compounds and quantify mixtures.
• To assess the ET's performance using advanced chemometric techniques.

Main Methods:

• Utilized a multielectrode array comprising graphite, gold, and platinum electrodes.
• Employed voltammetry to generate response data for various explosive compounds.
• Applied principal component analysis (PCA) for compound discrimination.
• Implemented artificial neural networks (ANNs) for mixture resolution and quantification.

Main Results:

• The ET demonstrated distinct responses to target explosives: RDX, HMX, PETN, TNT, Tetryl, and TATP.
• PCA effectively discriminated between individual explosive compounds.
• ANN analysis achieved accurate quantification of mixtures with a normalized root mean square error of 0.108.
• Correlation coefficients (r) exceeding 0.929 confirmed the reliability of concentration predictions.

Conclusions:

• The developed voltammetric electronic tongue is effective for the simultaneous detection and quantification of diverse explosive compounds.
• The combination of a multielectrode array and chemometric analysis (PCA and ANNs) provides a robust platform for explosives analysis.
• This technology holds potential for enhancing security measures through rapid and reliable explosive detection.