Sol–gel based optical sensor for continuous determination of dissolved hydrogen peroxide

An optical sensor highly sensitive to hydrogen peroxide has been prepared by incorporating the indicator dye Meldola Blue (MB) into sol–gel layers, prepared from (a) pure tetramethoxysilane (TMOS) and (b) variation of TMOS and methyltrimethoxysilane (Me-TriMOS). Sensor layers based on TMOS doped with MB were found to be most appropriate for purposes of sensing hydrogen peroxide in giving large signal changes and displaying rapid response times over the wide concentration range of 10−8–10−1M.