Design and Development of Titanium Dioxide (TiO₂)-Coated eFBG Sensor for the Detection of Petrochemicals Adulteration

Abstract

An increase in the greenhouse effect is a significant concern for the degradation of the environment. Out of many reasons, adulterated automotive fuels are one of the major contributors to emission. Generally, kerosene is used as an adulterant as it is relatively cheaper in terms of cost and has easy miscibility with petrochemicals. This article proposes an etched fiber Bragg grating (eFBG) sensor coated with titanium dioxide (TiO₂), which improves the interaction between the evanescent field and sensing mediums to a larger limit. An experimental investigation has been carried out to measure the extent of adulteration in the petrochemicals. The proposed sensor offers a maximum sensitivity of 54.98 nm/RIU with a detection limit of <inline-formula> <tex-math notation= LaTeX >$2.364\\times 10^{-4}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> RIU in petrol and 32.25 nm/RIU with a detection limit of <inline-formula> <tex-math notation= LaTeX >$4.031\\times 10^{-4}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> RIU in diesel, respectively. An increase in sensing capability to the tune of 19.57% and 10.1% compared to the eFBG-based sensor in the case of diesel and petrol, respectively, was observed due to TiO₂ coating. This sort of sensor is appropriate for continuous remote sensing. It has an immune toward EMI and fewer limitations too. This study will have an incredible advancement of eFBG-based optical fiber sensors for the petrochemicals industry in checking adulteration.