Liquid Concentration Sensing Properties of Microfibers with a Nanoscale-Structured Film

A type of compact solution concentration sensor based on a microfiber with a nanoscale-structured film is proposed and demonstrated experimentally. Additional loss at different solution concentrations is calculated by means of the three-dimensional finite-difference time-domain (3D-FDTD) method. The microfiber is fabricated by using the flame-heated scanning technique. Nanoscale-structured film is coated on the microfiber surface, which is assembled as a sensing unit. The sensitivity of this kind of sensor increases with the decreasing diameters of the microfiber. When the diameter of the microfiber is 2 μm, a minimum concentration sensitivity of 1% (under 450 s measuring time) is demonstrated in the experiment. Higher sensitivity can be attained when the solution concentration is higher. The sensing properties of this microfiber with the nanoscale-structured film may provide opportunities for new applications in optical sensing devices.