Interferometric fiber sensor for lead ion detection based on MoS2 hydrogel coating

A fiber optic sensor coated with molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) hydrogel is firstly proposed for the detection of lead ion (Pb2+). By splicing a dispersion-compensating fiber (DCF) between two single-mode fibers (SMFs) to form a Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI), and using a fusion splicer to discharge the SMF input and output to form a thick waist cone to act as a coupler. A portion of the DCF cladding is etched to excite higher order cladding patterns and a hydrogel sensing film is applied to the etched area, the sulfur atoms in the sensing film form coordination bonds with Pb2+ and change the refractive index (RI) of the sensing film, which further leads to the wavelength shift of the resonant dip. The production process is simple and environmentally friendly. By monitoring the wavelength shift, the adsorption of Pb2+ is continuously monitored, and the sensor has a sensitivity of 3.25 × 108 nm/(mol/L) in the range of 0–1.1 × 10−8 mol/L Pb2+ in aqueous solution. The theoretical detection limit of Pb2+ concentration is 6.15 × 10−11 mol/L at a spectrometer resolution of 0.02 nm. In addition, the experimental results show that the sensor has good repeatability, selectivity and stability, and has a broad application prospect in the field of Pb2+ detection in industry and agriculture.