![](bg4.png)
comparison, the typical level of TNT found in
wastewater of a TNT factory is 156 mg/L (Barreto-
Rodrigues et al., 2009). With the sensitivity shown
by the ormosil-coated aqueous explosives sensor,
these typical levels of nitroaromatic compounds can
be detected in the field.
Figure 5: Calibration curve of DNT in Acetonitrile. Three
identical vials of 3g soil spiked with 600 mg/L DNT in
water were added (absolute mass approx. 2 mg DNT per
vial), left overnight, sonicated with MeCN then the
solvent extracted and run through a HPLC.
4 CONCLUSIONS & OUTLOOK
The use of light-emitting polymers for nitroaromatic
sensing has been described in several different
configurations, including vapour sampling, REST
sampling, and aqueous detection, to help address the
many challenges in explosives detection. While all
of the strands in this research are in progress, efforts
have been made particularly towards portable
optical sensing systems which have been developed
and characterised, and further development of sol-
gel barrier films for aqueous sensing, and imprinting
for specificity are being investigated. Counter-IED
applications of these technologies and methods are
under increasing focus since global interest in
explosives detection is tending towards IED
detection in areas including anti-terrorism activities,
airport security, and crowd screening. Parallel
development of instrumentation with materials and
methods for increased specificity and selectivity can
lead to reliable in-field detection, which can
potentially have a positive impact on humanitarian
demining and Counter-IED activities across the
world.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This project has received funding from the
European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme
for research, technological development and
demonstration under agreement no 284747, and the
EPSRC under EP/K503940/1, EP/K503162/1, and
EP/N509759/1. IDWS acknowledges a Royal
Society Wolfson Research Merit Award.
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