Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jan 31, 2026

Highly Sensitive and Rapid Fluorescence Detection with a Portable FRET Analyzer
Published on: October 1, 2016
Cataluminescence sensor for highly sensitive and selective detection of iso-butanol
Feifei Meng1, Zhenyu Lu1, Runkun Zhang1
1School of Chemistry, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275, China.
Abstract:
In this paper, a gaseous sensor was described for detection of iso-butanol on the basis of its strong cataluminescence (CTL) emission on nano-MgO surface. The sensor showed high sensitivity and specificity to iso-butanol with response time less than 1 s and recovery time less than 18 s. A good linearly relationship between CTL intensity and the concentration of iso-butanol was observed in the range of 7.6-3350 mg/m3 (r = 0.9992), the limit of detection was 2.5 mg/m3. The proposed CTL sensor exhibits good specificity to iso-butanol against other compounds including common alcohols. The possible reaction paths of iso-butanol on the MgO surface were investigated in detail. Results shows that the hydrogen atom abstraction of iso-butanol to form β-Riso following consumption via Waddington mechanism possible is a major reaction channel for CTL emission. The sensor was applied to analyze iso-butanol in spiked samples, satisfactory recoveries were obtained in the range of 96.6-112.8% and the RSDs were 5.0-10.1%, indicating that the proposed sensor is a promising candidate for rapid analysis of iso-butanol.
Related Concept Videos
What is Natural Selection?
Antibiotic Selection
Types of Selection
Frequency-dependent Selection
Sensitivity, Specificity, and Predicted Value
Sensitivity is the...
Limits to Natural Selection

