Polydiacetylene-Based Sensors To Detect Volatile Organic Compounds†

Recently, volatile organic compound (VOC) detection has broadened from conventional environmental safety and air quality monitoring to food quality control and disease diagnosis. Current VOC detection technologies are expensive, bulky, and nonintuitive. Polydiacetylenes (PDAs) as colorimetric sensors have been extensively studied owing to their unique structural and optical properties. PDA’s color changes from blue (nonfluorescent) to red (fluorescent) upon exposure to stimuli. This blue-to-red transition is visible to the naked eye, making it highly suitable for independent and rapid detection. PDA is versatile and can be fabricated in various forms including paper, thin film, and 3D scaffold. In this Perspective, we provide an overview of PDA-based systems for VOC detection. We focus not only on the performance but also on the sensor VOC testing methods (calculation and experimental setup). We then identify several aspects to improve in future research to enable cross-comparison and validation between studies. Furthermore, we also outline the key considerations for device fabrication to facilitate better translation of research to commercialization.