Room-Temperature-Phosphorescence-Based Dissolved Oxygen Detection by Core-Shell Polymer Nanoparticles Containing Metal-Free Organic Phosphors

The highly sensitive optical detection of oxygen including dissolved oxygen (DO) is of great interest in various applications. We devised a novel room-temperature-phosphorescence (RTP)-based oxygen detection platform by constructing core–shell nanoparticles with water-soluble polymethyloxazoline shells and oxygen-permeable polystyrene cores crosslinked with metal-free purely organic phosphors. The resulting nanoparticles show a very high sensitivity for DO with a limit of detection (LOD) of 60 nm and can be readily used for oxygen quantification in aqueous environments as well as the gaseous phase.