Ultraviolet-printing-assisted surface-confined growth of silver nanoparticles on flexible polymer films for Cu2+ and H2S sensing

Metal nanoparticles (NPs) confined on the surface of flexible polymers films are highly sought after for a diverse range of applications. Herein, we report a facile substrate-independent strategy for surface-confined growth of silver NPs (AgNPs) on the surfaces of chemically diverse flexible polymer film substrates represented by polypropylene (PP), polyvinyl chloride (PVC), and polyethylene terephthalate (PET). The surfaces of polymer films were subjected to ultraviolet-printing and conjugated to the hyperbranched polyethyleneimine (PEI). The PEI-functionalized surfaces were subjected to surface-confined growth of AgNPs via three approaches. Besides PEI, the ability of quaternary amine and carboxylic acid functional groups to assist surface-confined growth of AgNPs is also evaluated. All the films with surface-confined AgNPs exhibited absorbance due to the surface plasmon resonance (SPR) characteristic of AgNPs. The AgNPs confined on the surface of PP films were functionalized with 4-mercaptobenzoic acid, and the λmax for SPR absorbance of the resulting platform was found to exhibit a markedly higher bathochromic shift when exposed to Cu2+ ions. This Cu2+ ions sensor could sense Cu2+ ions with a limit of detection of 2.6 ppm. Besides Cu2+ sensing via a bathochromic shift in λmax for SPR absorbance, the SPR absorbance of AgNPs confined on the surface of PP films was found to diminish upon exposure to the aqueous solution of sodium hydrosulfide (NaSH), which acts as a hydrogen sulfide (H2S) donor. The intensity of the SPR absorbance was found to decrease >40% upon exposure to 5 μM aqueous NaSH solution, whereas the SPR signal almost completely disappeared with visual decoloration when the films were exposed to 50 μM aqueous NaSH solution. This highlights the H2S sensing ability of the AgNPs confined on the surface of PP films. In brief, this study is a step toward the future development of flexible chemical sensor platforms and beyond.