This work aims to develop an optical sensor using pyrene as fluorophore for Fe3+ detection. The objectives of this project are as follows.
1. To synthesize and characterize pyrene-functionalized methacrylate copolymers with various dye contents
2. To prepare electrospun fibers from the synthesized copolymers
3. To compare the sensitivity of fibers prepared from pyrene-functionalized methacrylate copolymers with that of fibers prepared from blends of pyrene and poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA)
4. To study the effects of dye content and fibrous porosity on Fe3+ ion detection
