Abstract

An optimized mixture of polydopamine (PDA) and polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) is employed as the surface functionalizing agent and reducing agent to encapsulate individual polypropylene (PP) fibers of polypropylene micromembrane (PPMM). The functionalized PPMM becomes hydrophilic to allow the formation of Au nuclei for subsequent electroless Au deposition. The metalized PPMM is further deposited with IrO2 nanoparticles, and evaluated as a flexible and porous pH sensor. Images from scanning electron microscope confirms the uniform formation of IrO2 nanoparticles on Au-coated PP fibers. For pH-sensing performance, the IrO2-decorated metalized PPMM reveals a super-Nernstian response for a sensing slope of -74.45 mV/pH in aqueous solutions with pH value ranging between 2 and 12. In addition, the pH-sensing performance is properly maintained after 5000 bending cycles and hysteresis is modest in an acidic environment. The cell viability test indicates a negligible bio-toxicity. Our strategy of using a conductive polymeric membrane decorated with IrO2 nanoparticles enables possible sensing applications in wearable and implantable electronics.

Details

Title
A flexible IrO2 membrane for pH sensing
Author
Chou, Shih-Cheng 1 ; Hsieh, Yi-Chieh 1 ; Cheang, Wai-Hong 1 ; Sun, Bo-Yao 1 ; Chu, Chao-Yi 1 ; Chen, San-Yuan 2 ; Chiao, Jung-Chih 3 ; Wu, Pu-Wei 1   VIAFID ORCID Logo 

1  National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Hsinchu, Taiwan, ROC (GRID:grid.260539.b) (ISNI:0000 0001 2059 7017) 
2  National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Hsinchu, Taiwan, ROC (GRID:grid.260539.b) (ISNI:0000 0001 2059 7017); China Medical University, Graduate Institute of Biomedical Science, Taichung, Taiwan, ROC (GRID:grid.254145.3) (ISNI:0000 0001 0083 6092) 
3  Southern Methodist University, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Dallas, USA (GRID:grid.263864.d) (ISNI:0000 0004 1936 7929) 
Publication year
2022
Publication date
2022
Publisher
Nature Publishing Group
e-ISSN
20452322
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-15961-6
ProQuest document ID
2687093916
Copyright
© The Author(s) 2022. This work is published under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (the “License”). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.