MIT Researchers Synthesize Colour-Changing Fluorescent Gels For Detecting Structural Failures

Researchers at MIT have come up with a fluorescent gel based sensor that responds to external stimuli by changing its color. If it is heated, shaken, exposed to acid action or disrupted, it will change its color in response to it. They are thus improving their composition such that they can detect structural failures in high energy based equipments and pressure control devices.

They have used a series of different chemical mixtures to obtain this property. Combining a polymer with a fluorescent metal using a binding agent in a solvent produces fluorescent gels. Based on the different kinds of metals being used, these gels emit color-coded response to external stimuli and returns to their previous state after a settling time. Thus, they act as a sensor detecting any kinds of actions that are subjected to it.

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Fluorescent Gels of different colors

Polyethylene glycol has been used as a polymer with a ligand terpyridine which acts as a binding agent. Two lanthanides - europium and terbium have been used as fluorescent metals. Mixing the lanthanides in varying proportions generates different color coded light emitting gel. Mixing only europium produces red light whereas mixing only terbium produces blue-green light emitting gel. When europium and terbium are mixed in a ratio of 4 to 96, then a white light emitting gel is produced. Researchers believe that a white light emitting gel acts as a better sensor in comparison to others as it will be easy to detect and notice any shift in its color.

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By combining blue, red and green fluorescent gels in equal ratios, white color fluorescent gels are produced

Rebecca Gallivian, Holten-Anderson and Pangkuan Chen of MIT material science division are the main brains behind this invention. They believe that using a series of lanthanides and a binding ligand could help them in creating different varieties of color-coded sensors. By trying different lanthanides, they found out an easy way of producing white colored fluorescent gels. They have used lanthanum, europium and terbium and found out that they emit blue, pink and green color respectively. Mixing all these in equal volumes created a white light emitting sensor.

They have also found out that combining alginic acid polymer with lanthanides creates spherical beads that fluoresces. On proper stirring, these gels reduces to millimeter size beads which can be of immense help in optical and structural analysis.

Hence, they are trying to improve it even more such that these gels can be used as sensors for different activities like measuring pressure variations, making optical and structural analysis, etc. Their work has completely been funded by the MIT Energy Initiative and has been published and covered in the spring 2016 issue of its magazine.


Source - The promise of fluorescent polymer gels | MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology

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