The effect of the nature of the dopant on the sensor response of poly(3-methylthiophene) films

The effect of the nature of the dopant on the response of a sensor array based on films of poly(3-methylthiophene) under the influence of various organic solvents was studied. It was established that the electroconductivity of the polymer can both increase and decrease under the influence of the analytes. It was suggested that the main factors determining the magnitude of the response of poly(3-methylthiophene) are the ratio of the number of radical-cationic and dicationic states in the polymer, which depends on the nature of the dopant-anion, and also the polarity of the analyte. It was shown that the polymer has high sensitivity to chloroform vapor, which makes sensor arrays based on poly(3-methylthiophene) selective with respect to this analyte. __________ Translated from Teoreticheskaya i éksperimental’naya Khimiya, Vol. 42, No. 6, pp. 331–338, November–December, 2006.     

Effect of the Dopant Nature on the Response of Sensor Arrays Based on Polypyrrole

The effect of the nature of the dopant on the response of a sensor array based on films of polypyrrole under the influence of the vapor of various organic solvents was studied. It was found the electric conductivity of the polymer can both increase and decrease during the action of analytes on electropolymerized films of polypyrrole. It is suggested that the main factors determining the response of polypyrrole are the morphology of the films and the type of charge carriers in the polymer, which depend on the nature of the dopant anion, and also the polarity and nucleophilicity/electrophilicity of the analyte. The responses of polypyrrole and polyaniline are compared, and the effect of the nature of the conducting polymer on them is analyzed. __________ Translated from Teoreticheskaya i Eksperimental'naya Khimiya, Vol. 41, No. 5, pp. 265–271, September–October, 2005.     

The effect of dipole moment and electron deficiency of analytes on the chemiresistive response of TiO2(B) nanowires

Nanostructured TiO(2)(B) thin films were found to have strong and fast chemiresistive response to nitro-aromatic and nitro-amino explosives recently. In this study, the effects of dipole moment and electron deficiency of the analyte molecules on the chemiresistive response are explored to understand the details of molecular interactions of analytes with the sensor surface which lead to charge depletion and the chemiresistive effect. It was found that the speed of the response is dominated by the polarity of the analytes and molecules with larger dipole moments produce faster responses. The degree of the response was found to be dominated by the electron deficiency of the analytes and molecules with greater electron deficiency produce stronger chemiresistive responses.     

Determination of sulfur-containing anions in alkaline solutions using arrays of DP-sensors based on hybrid perfluorinated membranes with proton-donor dopants

The influence of proton-donor properties and concentration of dopant nanoparticles introduced into Nafion and MF-4SС perfluorosulfonic cation-exchange membranes on the characteristics of cross-sensitive DP-sensors (sensors whose analytical signal is the Donnan potential) in alkaline solutions of sulfur-containing organic compounds were studied. The dopants were acid salts of heteropoly acids (HPAs) and hydrated silica SiO₂ and zirconia ZrO₂ surface-modified with sulfur-containing groups and an acid HPA salt. A correlation was revealed between the DP-sensor sensitivity to anions (and zwitter-ions) in alkaline solutions, size and proton-donor ability of the added particles, and diffusion permeability of hybrid membranes. Optimum compositions of membranes for arrays of cross-sensitive DP-sensors ensuring the simultaneous determination of cations and anions (and zwitter-ions) in the test solutions with an error of less than 18% were selected.     

Understanding the dynamics of signal transduction for adsorption of gases and vapors on carbon nanotube sensors

Adsorption dynamics and their influence on signal transduction for carbon nanotube-based chemical sensors are explored using continuum site balance equations and a mass action model. These sensors are shown to possess both reversible and irreversible binding sites that can be modeled independently. For the case of irreversible adsorption, it is shown that the characteristic response time scales inversely with analyte concentration. It is inappropriate to report a detection limit for this type of sensor since any nonzero analyte concentration can be detected in theory but at a cost of increasing transduction time with decreasing concentration. The response curve should examine the initial rate of signal change as a function of analyte concentration. Conversely, a reversible sensor has a predefined detection limit, independent of the detector geometry with a characteristic time scaling that becomes constant in the zero analyte concentration limit. A simple analytical test is presented to distinguish between these two mechanisms from the transient response of a nanotube sensor array. Two systems appearing in the literature are shown to have an irreversible component, and regressed surface rate constants for this component are similar across different sensor geometries and analytes.     

Defect and transport properties of the NdCoO3 catalyst and sensor material

The NdCoO₃ perovskite has been investigated using a combination of atomistic simulation and experimental techniques to examine its possible use as an oxidation catalyst and/or sensor material. The sensing properties of NdCoO₃ and Nd_0.8Sr_0.2CoO₃ towards CO have been investigated by employing thin films deposited by means of radio-frequency (RF) magnetron sputtering onto polycrystalline Al₂O₃. The response of the films was monitored by performing four-probe DC-conductivity measurements. The conductivity variation induced by switching between a CO-free atmosphere (air) and a CO-rich one with the same composition of residual gas was recorded and analysed as a function of temperature; results are compared for the two samples. Simulation studies focussed on the dopant, transport and redox properties of the pure material; the results indicate that Sr and Ca on the Nd site are the most soluble dopants and that when divalent dopants are incorporated in the structure, charge compensation occurs via oxygen ion vacancies. The low activation energy for oxygen vacancy migration suggests high oxide-ion mobility through the lattice. Particular attention is paid to the electronic processes because of their importance with respect to practical applications of the material.     

Gas sensing mechanism in chemiresistive cobalt and metal-free phthalocyanine thin films

The gas sensing behaviors of cobalt phthalocyanine (CoPc) and metal-free phthalocyanine (H2Pc) thin films were investigated with respect to analyte basicity. Chemiresistive sensors were fabricated by deposition of 50 nm thick films on interdigitated gold electrodes via organic molecular beam epitaxy (OMBE). Time-dependent current responses of the films were measured at constant voltage during exposure to analyte vapor doses. The analytes spanned a range of electron donor and hydrogen-bonding strengths. It was found that, when the analyte exceeded a critical base strength, the device responses for CoPc correlated with Lewis basicity, and device responses for H2Pc correlated with hydrogen-bond basicity. This suggests that the analyte-phthalocyanine interaction is dominated by binding to the central cavity of the phthalocyanine with analyte coordination strength governing CoPc sensor responses and analyte hydrogen-bonding ability governing H2Pc sensor responses. The interactions between the phthalocyanine films and analytes were found to follow first-order kinetics. The influence of O2 on the film response was found to significantly affect sensor response and recovery. The increase of resistance generally observed for analyte binding can be attributed to hole destruction in the semiconductor film by oxygen displacement, as well as hole trapping by electron donor ligands.     

Effects of thiophene-based mesogen terminated with branched alkoxy group on the temperature range and electro-optical performances of liquid crystalline blue phases

A series of symmetrically thiophene-based bent-shaped molecules with branched terminal was synthesised and characterised. Then, their effects as dopants on the blue phase (BP) range of the chiral nematic liquid crystal (N*LC) host were investigated. It was found that the bent-shaped dopants with branched terminal had better miscibility in LC host than the bent-shaped dopants with straight terminal, and contributed to induce BP and enhance the BP temperature range, with the maximum BP temperature range about 20.4°C. Besides, the electro-optical (E-O) performances of the blue phase liquid crystal doped with Th-BC6 (a bent-shaped dopant with the widest induced BP range in N*LC) were also explored. It was found that the drive voltage reduced first and then increased with the doping amount of Th-BC6 increasing. When the doping amount of Th-BC6 was about 15 wt%, the hysteresis could be strikingly reduced.     

Effects of In, Al and Sn dopants on the structural and optical properties of ZnO thin films

Effect of In, Al and Sn dopants on the optical and structural properties of ZnO thin films have been investigated by X-ray diffraction technique and optical characterization method. X-ray diffraction patterns confirm that the films have polycrystalline nature. The thin films have (002) as the preferred orientation. This (002) preferred orientation is due to the minimal surface energy which the hexagonal structure, c-plane to the ZnO crystallites, corresponds to the densest packed plane. The grain size values of the films are found to be 29.0, 35.2 and 39.5 nm for In, Al and Sn doped ZnO thin films, respectively. The optical band gaps of the films were calculated. The absorption edge shifts to the lower wavelengths with In, Al and Sn dopants. The inclusion of dopant into films expands also width of localized states as E(UIn)>E(UAl)>E(USn). The refractive index dispersion curves obey the single oscillator model. The dispersion parameters and optical constants of the films were determined. These parameters changed with In, Al and Sn dopants.     

Methodology for the selection of suitable sensors for incorporation into a gas sensor array

An investigation into suitable mathematical techniques which can be used to select sensor components for a gas sensor array is reported. Data from a tin dioxide Taguchi semiconductor sensor array were obtained individually for various organic solvents and analysed using multivariate techniques, including principal component analysis, cluster analysis and star symbol plots. It was shown that the array data produced a series of characteristic response patterns for the analytes. It was also found that analytes of similar chemical nature had similar response patterns, indicating a correlation between sensor interaction and the chemical functional groups of the analyte. The multivariate techniques used proved to be very useful in enabling a suitable selection of the components of the array to be made by identifying which of the components or sensors were acting independently.     

Amorphous solid water films: transport and guest-host interactions with CO2 and N2O dopants

Guest-host interactions have been examined experimentally for amorphous solid water (ASW) films doped with CO2 or N2O. The main diagnostics are Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and temperature programmed desorption (TPD). ASW films deposited at 90 K are exposed to a dopant, and the first molecules that attach to a film enter its bulk until it is saturated with them. Subsequent dopant adsorption results in crystal growth atop the ASW film. There are distinct spectral signatures for these two cases: LO and TO vibrational modes for the crystal overlayer, and an easily distinguished peak for dopant molecules that reside within the ASW film. Above 105 K, the dopant surface layer desorbs fully. Some dopants residing within the ASW film remain until 155 K, at which point the ASW-to-crystalline-ice transition occurs, expelling essentially all of the dopant. No substantial differences are observed for CO2 versus N2O. It is shown that annealing an ASW film to 130 K lowers the film's capacity to include dopants by a factor of approximately 3, despite the fact that the ASW spectral feature centered at approximately 3250 cm(-1) shows no discernible change. Sandwiches were prepared: ASW-dopant-ASW etc., with the dopant layer displaying crystallinity. Raising these samples past 105 K resulted in the expulsion of essentially all of the crystalline dopant. What remained displayed the same spectral signature as the molecules that entered the bulk following adsorption at the surface. It is concluded that the adsorption sites, though prepared differently, have a lot in common. Dangling OH bonds were observed. When they interacted with a dopant, they underwent a red shift of approximately 50 cm(-1). This is in qualitative agreement with studies that have been carried out with weakly bound binary complexes. As a result of this study, a fairly complete, albeit qualitative, picture is in place for the adsorption, binding, and transport of CO2 and N2O in ASW films.     

Porous coordination polymer hybrid device with quartz oscillator: effect of crystal size on sorption kinetics

A new strategy to synthesize monodispersed porous coordination polymer (PCP) nanocrystals at room temperature was developed and utilized for the formation of PCP thin films on gold substrates with fine control over the crystal sizes using the coordination modulation method. Hybridization of these PCP thin films with an environment-controlled quartz crystal microbalance system allowed determining the adsorption properties for organic vapors (methanol and hexane). In the case of high sensitivity (at the low-concentration dosing of analytes), the sensor response depended on the crystal size but not on the type of analyte. In contrast, at the high-concentration dosing, a clear dependence of the sorption kinetics on the analyte was observed due to significant sorbate-sorbate interaction.     

Inkjet-printed gold nanoparticle chemiresistors: Influence of film morphology and ionic strength on the detection of organics dissolved in aqueous solution

The influence of film morphology on the performance of inkjet-printed gold nanoparticle chemiresistors has been investigated. Nanoparticles deposited from a single-solvent system resulted in a “coffee ring”-like structure with most of the materials deposited at the edge. It was shown that the uniformity of the film could be improved if the nanoparticles were deposited from a mixture of solvents comprising N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone and water. Electrical conductivity measurements showed that both “coffee ring” and “flat” films were qualitatively similar suggesting that the films have similar nanoscale structures. To form the functional chemiresistor device, the 4-(dimethylamino)pyridine coating on the nanoparticle was exchanged with 1-hexanethiol to provide a hydrophobic sensing layer. The performance of 1-hexanethiol coated gold nanoparticle chemiresistors to small organic molecules, toluene, dichloromethane and ethanol dissolved in 1 M KCl in regard to changes in impedance and response times was unaffected by the film morphology. For larger hydrocarbons such as octane, the rate of uptake of the analyte into the film was significantly faster when the flatter nanoparticle film was used as opposed to the “coffee ring” film which has a thicker edge. Furthermore, the presence of potassium and chloride ions in the solution media does not significantly affect the impedance of the nanoparticle film at 1 Hz (<2% variation in film impedance over more than four orders of magnitude change in ionic strength). However, the ionic strength of the media affected the partitioning of the analyte into the hydrophobic nanoparticle film. The response of the sensor was found to increase with an increased salt concentration due to a salting-out of the analyte from the solution.     

XPS法对聚乙炔化学掺杂机制的研究

用XPS(X射线光电子能谱法)研究了十余种掺杂聚乙炔的电荷转移过程, 发现对大部分掺杂剂, 由Cls谱裂分所计算的电荷转移量与掺杂剂的氧化电位直接相关. 一些强氧化性或过渡金属质子酸也符合这一规律, 同时观察到掺杂后这些氧化性质子酸本身发生价态变化. 因此这些质子酸的掺杂不是文南中所报道的质子酸机制而是氧化还原机制.所研究的若干种非氧化性或弱氧化性质子酸掺杂后电导率均较低, 这进一步表明掺杂过程中的电荷转移过程是产生高导聚乙炔的必要条件.     

FTIR spectroscopic characterization of Nafion®–polyaniline composite films employed for the corrosion control of stainless steel

Nafion®–polyaniline (PAn) composite films deposited by a two-step process on a stainless steel (SS) substrate were characterized in this study using Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy under various conditions employed to evaluate their anticorrosion properties. The SS|Nafion® electrode was first prepared by placing a certain amount of Nafion® on the SS substrate, and then polymerization of aniline was carried out potentiodynamically on the SS|Nafion® electrode. The SS|Nafion®–PAn electrodes subjected to both potentiodynamic polarization and open-circuit conditions in sulfuric acid solutions without and with chlorides appeared to have distinct differences in their FTIR spectra. It is proposed that under the electrochemical conditions used in this study, the PAn is mostly formed inside the Nafion® membrane with a high proportion of oligomers influencing the ionic transport through the membrane. The inhibition of pitting corrosion arises primarily from the enhanced permselectivity of the composite film due to the Nafion® membrane that prevents chloride transport. An essential beneficial effect comes also from the PAn redox properties on the growth of the passive oxide film. Even under severe corrosion conditions, Nafion®–PAn films retain their redox activity and chemical stability, whereas the membrane crystallinity seems to be enhanced.

     

Sensitive Amperometric Sensing of Hydrogen Peroxide Using Ag Nanowire Array Electrode

The amperometric sensor based on a silver nanowire (80 nm in diameter Ag NW) array electrode was fabricated and characterized with scanning electron microscope (SEM). The electrode showed good electrocatalytic activity for reduction of hydrogen peroxide. The effects of the applied polarization potential, pH, time interval between successive injections of analyte, injection volume and H₂O₂ concentration in a single injection on the electrochemical performance of the sensor were studied. It was found that the optimized operating conditions for the proposed sensor are: the potential of ?200 mV, pH between 7.4 and 9.0, 60 s time interval, 10 µL injection volume, and 500 µM H₂O₂ in single injection. The proposed Ag NW array sensor is free of interference from ascorbic acid, uric acid and glucose.     

掺杂剂对聚乙炔中孤子的影响

本文用半经验CNDO/2量子化学计算方法研究了各种掺杂剂对聚乙炔中孤子性质的影响。掺杂剂的存在使孤子的宽度变小, 且p型掺杂剂比n型掺杂剂的影响更大, 这主要是由于掺杂剂与聚乙炔链之间的电荷转移量不同造成的。     

Methane interactions with polyaniline/butylmethylimidazolium camphorsulfonate ionic liquid composite

In our previous report, a polyaniline (PAn) and ionic liquid butylmethylimidazolium camphorsulfonate (BMICS) composite was used as a methane sensing material which significantly increased the sensitivity for methane detection using quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) transducers. In this paper, we focus on the interactions within the PAn/BMICS composite and between the composite and methane. UV-vis and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopic results indicated that the anion of BMICS, camphorsulfonate, could form hydrogen bonds with the "nitrogen" sites of protic acid doped PAn. These hydrogen bonds align the camphorsulfonate anions in a comblike manner along the PAn backbone and therefore enhance the long-range pi-orbital conjugation of PAn. Methane molecules absorbed into the PAn/BMICS may sit in the "space" between the aligned anions and cations of BMICS. By measuring the methane absorption in PAn/BMICS at a temperature range of 25-65 degrees C, the entropy and enthalpy of dissolution were obtained following the van't Hoff equation. They are -163.2 +/- 30.1 J/mol.K and -50.5 +/- 8.7 kJ/mol, respectively, which are relatively higher than those in pure BMICS and in PAn only. These thermodynamic parameters further support that the absorbed methane molecules might exist in PAn/BMICS in a relatively ordered manner. Molecular mechanics simulation results agree with the spectroscopic and thermodynamic results.     

FeCl_3/APS复合氧化剂对乳液法合成聚苯胺动力学行为的影响

采用石英晶体微天平(QCM)技术,探讨了以三氯化铁(FeCl3)和过硫酸铵(APS)为复合氧化剂,十二烷基苯磺酸(DBSA)为乳化剂和掺杂剂时,苯胺(An)的乳液聚合动力学行为;并通过对产物的循环伏安分析,初步优化了聚合反应条件.结果表明,An的乳液聚合反应对复合氧化剂、An以及DBSA分别为1,0.5和0.5级.各种条件下的循环伏安(CV)图都显示出PAn的三对氧化还原特征峰.当FeCl3与APS物质的量比为2∶1;氧化剂总量与苯胺的物质的量比为3∶1;DBSA浓度为0.05mol/L时,CV测试的峰电流和电导率最大.     

Use of spatiotemporal response information from sorption-based sensor arrays to identify and quantify the composition of analyte mixtures

Linear sensor arrays made from small molecule/carbon black composite chemiresistors placed in a low-headspace volume chamber, with vapor delivered at low flow rates, allowed for the extraction of new chemical information that significantly increased the ability of the sensor arrays to identify vapor mixture components and to quantify their concentrations. Each sensor sorbed vapors from the gas stream and, thereby, as in gas chromatography, separated species having high vapor pressures from species having low vapor pressures. Instead of producing only equilibrium-based sensor responses that were representative of the thermodynamic equilibrium partitioning of analyte between each sensor and the initial vapor phase, the sensor responses varied depending on the position of the sensor in the chamber and the time since the beginning of the analyte exposure. The concomitant spatiotemporal (ST) sensor array response therefore provided information that was a function of time, as well as of the position of the sensor in the chamber. The responses to pure analytes and to multicomponent analyte mixtures comprised of hexane, decane, ethyl acetate, chlorobenzene, ethanol, and/or butanol were recorded along each of the sensor arrays. Use of a non-negative least-squares (NNLS) method for analysis of the ST data enabled the correct identification and quantification of the composition of two-, three-, four-, and five-component mixtures from arrays using only four chemically different sorbent films. In contrast, when traditional time- and position-independent sensor response information was used, these same mixtures could not be identified or quantified robustly. The work has also demonstrated that, for ST data, NNLS yielded significantly better results than analyses using extended disjoint principal components modeling. The ability to correctly identify and quantify constituent components of vapor mixtures through the use of such ST information significantly expands the capabilities of such broadly cross-reactive arrays of sensors.