The Pros And Cons Of Trace Detection Of TNT

The recent spurt in terrorist activities involving TNT as an explosive and its widely reported role as an environmental contaminant made it an analyte of prime concern for the scientific community dealing with environmental problems and national security [1-3]. Consequently, there is an imperative need for rapid and steadfast methods of trace detection of TNT, for screenings in airports, analysis of forensic samples, and environmental analysis [4-5]. Traditionally, x-ray based instruments and trained animals are the basic choices to handle the explosives substances like TNT. Canines are still considered the gold standard for field methods of detecting explosives [2, 3]. Other techniques like HPTLC [6], HPLC [7], IR [8] & Raman spectroscopy

This aggregation of NPs resulted in enhanced SERS properties as the ‘hot-spots’ formation increased with more and more aggregation. The aggregation of NPs can be studied effectively by DLS method also, as the technique relied on the size of NPs. By incorporating a specific chemical moiety on the SERS surface, one can target the detection of a single species present in a complex sample mixture at nano to femto molar level without having to physically separate out interfering species. Very high selectivity and sensitivity offered by SERS, along with the highly informative spectra characteristics of Raman spectroscopy, allows SERS-based method a feasible alternative to more commonly used optical sensing methods [32]. Recently, Pandya et al. fabricated ultrasensitive nanocurcumin based fluorescent probe for detection of trace amount of TNT with excellent sensitivity (1 nM) and selectivity over other nitro explosives via aggregation and reported a fluorescent enhancement, upto 800 fold [26].They utilized the electron donating ability of the curcumin to form the curcumin-TNT Meisenheimer