Search

Design and fabrication of an ammonia sensor operating at room temperature based on pigment-sensitized TiO2 films was described. TiO2 was prepared by sol-gel method and deposited on glass slides containing gold electrodes. Then, the film immersed in a 2.5×10(-4)M ethanol solution of cyanidin to absorb the pigment. The hybrid organic-inorganic formed film here can detect ammonia reversibly at room temperature. The relative change resistance of the films at a potential difference of 1.5V is determined when the films are exposed to atmospheres containing ammonia vapors with concentrations over the range 10-50 ppm. The relative change resistance, S, of the films increased almost linearly with increasing concentrations of ammonia (r=0.92). The response time to increasing concentrations of the ammonia is about 180-220 s, and the corresponding values for decreasing concentrations 240-270 s. At low humidity, ammonia could be ionized by the cyanidin on the TiO2 film and thereby decrease in the proton concentration at the surface. Consequently, more positively charged holes at the surface of the TiO2 have to be extracted to neutralize the adsorbed cyanidin and water film. The resistance response to ammonia of the sensors was nearly independent on temperature from 10 to 50°C. These results are not actually as good as those reported in the literature, but this preliminary work proposes simpler and cheaper processes to realize NH3 sensor for room temperature applications., (Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

The objective of this study was to investigate the spectral behavior of the relationship between reflectance and chlorophyll content and to develop a technique for non-destructive chlorophyll estimation and distribution in leaves using hyperspectral imaging. The hyperspectral imaging data cube of cucumber (Cucumis sativus) leaves in the range of 450-850 nm was investigated and preprocessed. Sixty optical signatures or indices as a function of the associated reflectance (R(λ)) at the special wavelength (λ) nm which proposed in the literatures were used to predict the total chlorophyll content in cucumber leaves. Finally, R(710)/R(760), (R(780)-R(710))/(R(780)-R(680)), (R(750)-R(705))/(R(750)+R(705)), (R(680)-R(430))/(R(680)+R(430)), R(860)/(R(550)×R(708)), (R(695-705))(-1)-(R(750-800))(-1), and REP-LEM (a index based on red edge position and estimated with a linear extrapolation method) were identified as optimum indices. Red-edge waveband (680-780 nm) appeared in all these optimum indices, indicating the importance of REP (red edge position) in chlorophyll estimation. When (R(695-705))(-1)-(R(750-800))(-1), the best index was applied to an independent validation set, chlorophyll content (r=0.8286) were reasonably well predicted, indicating model robustness. Depending on the sample, this technique enables to identify and characterize the relative content of various chlorophyll that distribution in the cucumber leaves. The map shows a relatively low level of chlorophyll at margins. Higher level can be noticed in the regions along the main veins and in some areas exhibiting dark green tissue. Our results indicate that hyperspectral imaging has considerable promise for predicting pigments in leaves and, the pigments can be detected in situ in living plant samples non-destructively., (Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)