Paper-based electrochemiluminescence gas sensor

In this report, a novel paper-based Electrochemiluminescence (ECL) gas sensor was fabricated with a simple design and applied for the total ammonia detection in aqueous solutions, which has not been reported previously for the total ammonia detection in solution by converting dissolved NH4+ into ammonia gas. Here, we benefited from the acting of ammonia as a co-reactant in combination with Ru(bpy)32+ for the total ammonia detection in a water sample. The developed method is based on the conversion of dissolved NH4+ ions into ammonia gas and the detection of total ammonia using an ECL method. Under the optimized conditions, a linear increase on the ECL signals was observed by varying logarithms of ammonia concentrations in the range from 1.0 × 10−1 to 1.0 × 10−7 M with a determinant coefficient (R2) of 0.9896. The limit of detection was calculated as 0.6 × 10−9 M. The developed method was successfully used for the total ammonia detection in the tap water samples with an average recovery value of 92.4%. The results suggest that the developed method can be considered as an ammonia detection method not only for gas samples but also for both environmental and biological samples. Furthermore, the developed ECL gas sensor will provide an opportunity as a portable gas sensor with low-cost fabrication for several applications.