posted on 2014-12-19, 17:33authored byEdric I. Gill, Arousian Arshak, Khalil Arshak, Olga Korostynska
This paper reports on the results from the investigation into the pH sensitivity of
novel PANI/PVB/PS3 composite films. The conductimetric sensing mode was chosen as it
is one of the most promising alternatives to the mainstream pH-sensing methods and it is the
least investigated due to the popularity of other approaches. The films were deposited using
both screen-printing and a drop-coating method. It was found that the best response to pH
was obtained from the screen-printed thick films, which demonstrated a change in
conductance by as much as three orders of magnitude over the pH range pH2-pH11. The
devices exhibited a stable response over 96 hours of operation. Several films were immersed
in buffer solutions of different pH values for 96 hours and these were then investigated
using XPS. The resulting N 1s spectra for the various films confirmed that the change in
conductance was due to deprotonation of the PANI polymer backbone. SEM and
Profilometry were also undertaken and showed that no considerable changes in the
morphology of the films took place and that the films did not swell or contract due to
exposure to test solutions.
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