pH Sensitivity of Novel PANI/PVB/PS3 Composite Films
1
Dept. of Physics, University of Limerick, Limerick, Ireland
2
Dept. of Computer and Electronic Engineering, University of Limerick, Limerick, Ireland
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Sensors 2007, 7(12), 3329-3346; https://doi.org/10.3390/s7123329
Received: 29 November 2007 / Accepted: 18 December 2007 / Published: 19 December 2007
(This article belongs to the Special Issue State-of-the-Art Polymer Based pH Sensors)
This paper reports on the results from the investigation into the pH sensitivity ofnovel PANI/PVB/PS3 composite films. The conductimetric sensing mode was chosen as itis one of the most promising alternatives to the mainstream pH-sensing methods and it is theleast investigated due to the popularity of other approaches. The films were deposited usingboth screen-printing and a drop-coating method. It was found that the best response to pHwas obtained from the screen-printed thick films, which demonstrated a change inconductance by as much as three orders of magnitude over the pH range pH2-pH11. Thedevices exhibited a stable response over 96 hours of operation. Several films were immersedin buffer solutions of different pH values for 96 hours and these were then investigated usingXPS. The resulting N 1s spectra for the various films confirmed that the change inconductance was due to deprotonation of the PANI polymer backbone. SEM andProfilometry were also undertaken and showed that no considerable changes in themorphology of the films took place and that the films did not swell or contract due toexposure to test solutions.
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Keywords:
PANI composite film; XPS; thick films; conductance; interdigitated electrodes.
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License
MDPI and ACS Style
Gill, E.; Arshak, A.; Arshak, K.; Korostynska, O. pH Sensitivity of Novel PANI/PVB/PS3 Composite Films. Sensors 2007, 7, 3329-3346.
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