Vapor Trace Collection and Direct Ultrasensitive Detection of Nitro-Explosives by 3D Microstructured Electrodes

The development of a rapid, sensitive, and selective real-time detection method for explosives traces may have an enormous impact on civilian national security, military applications, and environmental monitoring. However, real-time sensing of explosives still possesses a huge analytical hurdle, rendering explosives detection an issue of burning immediacy and an enormous current challenge in terms of research and development. Even though several explosives detection methods have been established, these approaches are typically time-consuming, need relatively large equipment, demand sample preparation, require a skilled operator, and lack the capability to do high-throughput real-time detection, thus strongly constraining their mass deployment. Here, we demonstrate the use of amino-modified carbon microfiber (μCF) working electrodes for ultrasensitive, selective, and multiplex detection of nitro-based explosives. Furthermore, our sensing method works at high sampling rates by a single electrode in a single detection cycle. We hereby present the first demonstration of porous μCF electrodes used for the simultaneous collection/preconcentration of explosive molecular species through direct air sampling, followed by the electrochemical detection of the surface adsorbed electroactive species. Our chemically modified μCF electrodes allow straightforward vapor-phase detection and discrimination of multiple nitro-based explosives directly from collected air samples. Hence, our sensing approach has been shown highly effective in the ultratrace detection of nitro-based explosives, under real-world conditions.