Papers of the Week

Methanol contamination of alcoholic drinks can lead to severe health problems for human beings including poisoning, headache, blindness, and even death. Therefore, having access to a simple and inexpensive way for monitoring beverages is vital. Herein, a portable, low cost, and easy to use sensor is fabricated based on the exploitation of chiral nematic liquid crystals (CLCs) and a textile grid for detection of methanol in two distinct alcoholic beverages: red wine and vodka. The working principle of the sensor relies on the reorientation of the liquid crystal molecules upon exposure to the contaminated alcoholic beverages with different concentrations of methanol (0, 2, 4, and 6 wt %) and the changes in the observed colorful textures of the CLCs as well as the intensity of the output light. The proposed sensor is label free and rapid.