Development of conductive sensing material for accurate quantitative and qualitative detection of phthalates in aqueous environments

Abstract

Recently, rapid, quick and in-situ phthalate detection methods have gained significant attention over already existing complex, sophisticated phthalate detecting techniques. In this study, an easy to-use sensing material was developed by incorporating multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) in a silver modified cellulose matrix. The conductive sensing material was fabricated as a composite paper, and its electrical conductivity was duly confirmed. With the adsorption of phthalate owing to the formation of phi-phi interactions, the conductivity of the composite decreased. The reduction of conductivity of the composite papers was measured using four probe conductivity meter. The morphology of the sensing material was studied using scanning electron spectroscopy while Raman analysis was conducted to determine phthalate adsorption to MWCNT. The developed sensing material shows the ability to distinguish phthalate molecules qualitatively. Using the simple four-probe conductivity technique, the composite paper can quantitatively determine phthalate content in aqueous solutions down to 0.1 ppm.