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    Self-assembled optical diffraction sensor for water quality monitoring : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Engineering, Massey University, Albany, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2020) Jaywant, Swapna
    Water contamination is one of the current global issues; the freshwater sources being extremely restricted are causing a drinking water crisis in many countries. An increase in water contamination continuously decreases water quality. Generally, water pollution includes pathogenic, nutrients, and chemical (organic & inorganic) contaminants. Inorganic contamination involves metallic particles such as arsenic, lead, etc. Of these contaminants, arsenic (As) is a major concern due to its mutagenic and carcinogenic effects on human health. The World Health Organisation has recommended the maximum contamination limit (MCL) for arsenic in drinking water to be 10 µg/L. Countries like Bangladesh, China, Vietnam, India, Chile, USA, and Canada are contaminated with arsenic. Arsenic species are also found in New Zealand in 28 geothermal features from the Taupo Volcanic Zone and the Waikato region. Thus, a rising level of arsenic in drinking water creates the need to periodically monitor its levels in potable water. Commercially available methods are either laboratory-based or kit based techniques. The most common laboratory-based arsenic detection methods are reliable. However, these are expensive due to the requirement for specific instrumentation. Hence, they are not considered to be field-effective for arsenic detection. On the other hand, commercially available kit-based methods are portable but are not considered to be safe and reliable due to the production of toxic by-products. The development of a portable and sensitive arsenic sensor with high throughput could be an asset. In this research, we present a novel sensor with a unique surface modification technique to detect arsenite (As(III)) contamination of water. Here, the approach involves the potential usage of self-assembled optical diffraction patterns of a thiol compound (dithiothreitol or glutathione) on the gold-coated glass. The self-assembled patterns are obtained through a microcontact printing (µCP) procedure. Gold binds with the thiol compound through an Au-S linkage. In addition to this, As(III) has an affinity towards amino acids, amines, peptides, and organic micro molecules due to As-O or As-S linkages. The research indicates that the total time taken by the µCP process to transfer the patterns successfully on to the gold-coated substrate is inversely proportional to the concentration of the thiol molecules and pH value of the solvent. Further, the signal enhancement of these thiol-based self-assembled patterns allows for detection of the As(III) contamination. Simultaneously, the automated fluidic system is designed to provide fluid handling. The system is developed with the help of off-the-shelf and/or in-house fabricated components. The characterisation of fluidic components proved that the low-cost fluidic components work reliably in the fluidic network and can be used in sensing applications for pumping, mixing, and circulation purposes. We also explore the possibility of using fused deposition modelling and selective laser sintering technology for the printing of the flow chamber through printing microchannels. These two technologies have been compared in terms of the minimum possible channel size, fluid ow-rate, and leakage. Overall, we developed a sensing scheme of a portable self-assembled diffraction sensor for As(III) detection. The developed sensor can detect dissolved As(III) up to 20 µg/L. The µCP of a dithiothreitol pattern has not been found in the literature yet. Hence, this research also provides a guide towards µCP of dithiothreitol on a gold-coated substrate.
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    Sensors for optics-based strain, temperature and chemical sensing : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Physics at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2015) Swanson, Adam James
    This thesis is a study of optical sensor development with two themes. Firstly, the development of polymer coated glass optical fibre sensors for relative humidity sensing. Secondly, the development and characterisation of novel planar dye- doped polymer waveguide sensors for strain, temperature and chemical sensing. This thesis was motivated by the need to measure strain, temperature and chemi- cals in harsh conditions with high precision (including compact, high electric field or explosive environments where traditional sensors can not be used). In addi- tion, dye-doped polymer optical chips are being developed for telecommunication applications and their dependence on humidity, temperature and strain will be a key consideration. Sensor applications utilising dye-doping can achieve a greater sensitivity over traditional undoped sensors. The developed polymer coated glass optical fibre sensors were characterised with humidity calibration experiments. A polyimide based coating was found to have a humidity response of 7.2 pm/%rh corresponding to a coefficient of moisture expansion of 74 ppm/%rh. A series of modified block co-polymer coatings was investigated to identify important chemical structure features. Enhanced perfor- mance was achieved by the modification of the chemical structure of an existing commercial polyetherimide. A correlation between coating thickness and optical fibre diameter was observed where the humidity response was enhanced by using thicker coatings or smaller diameter fibres due to a fibre to coating ratio effect. The time response of the sensor’s to a humidity step change was measured. To ex- plore the response time dependencies the sensors humidity step change response a novel two-layer model was proposed. A mesh model was also utilised to calcu- late the diffusion coefficient for each coating. The time response was found to be highly dependent on coating thickness with response time increasing significantly with thickness. Novel dye-doped polymer sensors were developed by photo-bleaching waveg- uides containing Bragg gratings, with Bragg reflections observed. The sensor fabrication process was refined by modifying the waveguide dimensions and util- ising precise phase mask alignment to obtain a single-mode waveguide with a single Bragg reflection. Methods of coupling the film sensor to a single-mode fibre with a housing unit was explored and a novel method proposed and tested. The film sensors were characterised with strain, temperature and chemical sensing experiments. A strong humidity response in the range of 55 to 65 pm/%rh and the time responses to a humidity step change were measured. Strain responses in the range of 1.70 to 1.80 pm/µo were observed, exceeding that of comparable silica and PMMA sensors.