A sensitive volatile organic vapor sensor based on the LSPR properties of silver triangular nanoprisms is proposed in this paper. The triangular nanoprisms were fabricated by a nanosphere lithography (NSL) method. They have sharp vertices and edges, and are arranged in an ideal hexangular array. These characteristics ensure that they exhibit an excellent LSPR spectrum and a high sensitivity to the exterior environment changes. The LSPR spectra responding to ethanol vapor and four other volatile organic vapors—acetone, benzene, hexane and propanol—were measured with a UV-vis spectrometer in real time. Compared with the other four vapors, ethanol exhibits the highest sensitivity (~0.1 nm/mg L⁻¹) and the lowest detection limit (~10 mg/L) in the spectral tests. The ethanol vapor test process is also fast (~4 s) and reversible. These insights demonstrate that the triangular nanoprism based nano-sensor can be used in ethanol vapor detection applications.

The design and development of a sensitive, fast and selective chloroform vapour sensor based on a poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) transduction layer and a plasmonic nanostructures transducer is presented. The PMMA layer swelled when it was in exposure to the vapours, which would in turn bring in an extinction efficiency change in the localised surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) spectrum for triangular silver nanoprisms. The LSPR spectral response to chloroform and other vapours was measured by a UV–vis spectrometer in real time. Experiment results showed that the PMMA–LSPR sensor indicated a sensitivity of 4.76 × 10 ⁻⁵ ppm ⁻¹ and a detection limit of 21 ppm. A fast, stable and reversible response was observed during positive and negative test cycles upon variations of the environment in the gas cell between clean air and saturated chloroform contained air. The PMMA–LSPR sensor also showed good selectivity of chloroform when it was exposed to vapours with different functional groups. It has been demonstrated that plasmonic nanostructures coated with PMMA transduction films can be applied to chloroform sensing and vapour classifying applications.

A simple and stable method to detect dimethyl methylphosphonate (DMMP) was studied. Through direct monitoring of acetylcholinesterase (AChE) inhibition without histological substrate, the concentration of DMMP was sensitively detected. In the experimental setup, a liquid–gas interface was developed to improve the oscillation stability of quartz crystal microbalances (QCMs) and to prevent protein denaturation of AChE. AChE was immobilised on the surface of gold electrodes on QCM by creating a cross‐linked gel with glutaraldehyde. Experimental results showed that the prepared biosensor had a frequency fall of ∼4 Hz when a concentration of 1 ng/ml increment occurred for liquid DMMP. Furthermore, the detection was repeatable and selective to only DMMP. Frequency response to DMMP in gas phase was also studied. The considerable frequency response and its complete recovery showed that the sensor had wide application potential in attack defence and public safety construction.