A sensor of alcohol vapours based on thin polyaniline base film and quartz crystal microbalance

Thin films of polyaniline base, emeraldine base (EB), coating on the quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) electrode were used as a sensitive layer for the detection of a number of primary aliphatic alcohols such as ethanol, methanol, 2-propanol and 1-propanol vapours. The frequency shifts (Δf) of the QCM were increased due to the vapour adsorption into the EB film. Δf were found to be linearly correlated with the concentrations of alcohols vapour in part per million (ppm). The sensitivity of the sensor was found to be governed by the chemical structure of the alcohol. The sensor shows a good reproducibility and reversibility. The diffusions of different alcohols vapour were studied and the diffusion coefficients (D) were calculated. It is concluded that the diffusion of the vapours into the EB film follows Fickian kinetics.     

Fabrication and characterization of microcantilever integrated with PZT thin film sensor and actuator

The purpose is to find the potential application of PZT thin film for microsensor and microactuator. Pb(Zr_0.5Ti_0.5)O₃ thin film is deposited by sol-gel method. Piezoelectric microcantilever with two-segment top electrodes is fabricated using bulk micromachining techniques. Piezoelectricity of the deposited PZT thin film and sensing and actuation capability of the each segment of microcantilever is proved. Experiments are performed when one segment acts as an actuator or vibrator and another segment as force sensor. The results show that the proposed PZT thin film microcantilever can be used in force feedback and object manipulation simultaneously.     

Fabrication of a novel organic polymer thin film

Fabrication of organic polymer thin films and organic semiconductors are critical for the development of sophisticated organic thin film based devices. Radio Frequency plasma polymerisation is a well developed and widely used fabrication technique for polymer thin films. This paper describes the fabrication of an organic polymer thin film from a monomer based on Lavandula angustifolia. Several polymer thin films were manufactured with thicknesses ranging from 200 nm to 2400 nm. The energy gap of the polymer thin film was measured to be 2.93 eV. The refractive index and extinction coefficient was determined to be 1.565 (at 500 nm) and 0.01 (at 500 nm) respectively. The organic polymer thin film demonstrates the possibility of an environmentally friendly, cost effective organic semiconductor.     

Electrical strength of thin polyaniline films

The electrical strength of in-situ polymerized polyaniline films converted to non-conducting polyaniline base has been compared with the strength of solution-cast polystyrene and poly(methyl methacrylate) films of sub-micrometre thickness. The electrical lifetime of polyaniline film exponentially decreases with the growing electric-field strength. The electric-field strength at breakdown increases with increasing rate of electric field build-up. The breakdown areas in polyaniline films have been characterized by Raman spectroscopy. The possible physical mechanism of the breakdown in thin polymer films is discussed. The proposed concept is based on the steep increase of current density during the transition from the quadratic law at space-limited charge to the regime of complete saturation of traps. As a result, the Joule heat causes the degradation of polyaniline followed by the evaporation of chain fragments in the breakdown area.     

Extrinsic optical-fiber ultrasound sensor using a thin polymer film as a low-finesse Fabry-Perot interferometer

Theoretical and experimental aspects of an extrinsic optical-fiber ultrasound sensor are described. The sensor is based on a thin transparent polymer film acting as a low-finesse Fabry-Perot cavity that is mounted at the end of a multimode optical fiber. Performance was found to be comparable with that of a piezoelectric polyvinylidene dinuoride-membrane (PVDP) hydrophone with a sensitivity of 61 mV/MPa, an acoustic noise floor of 2.3 KPa over a 25-MHz bandwidth, and a frequency response to 25 MHz. The wideband-sensitive response and design flexibility of the concept suggests that it may find application as an alternative to piezoelectric devices for the detection and measurement of ultrasound.     

Enhanced conductivity in iodine doped polyaniline thin film formed by thermal evaporation

Thermal evaporation technique was employed to deposit pristine and iodine doped polyaniline (PANI) thin films on glass substrates. PANI was synthesized by the chemical oxidation method. Iodine doping was carried out by evaporation. The polymer synthesized was characterized by Thermo Gravimetric Analysis (TGA), Fourier Transform Infra Red (FTIR) and Ultraviolet-Visible (UV-VIS) spectroscopy. The evaporation temperature was optimized from TGA measurements. The thin film was deposited in vacuum at 1.33 × 10^− 4 Pa by thermal evaporation of PANI. The polymer film was characterized by FTIR and UV-VIS spectroscopy. The surface morphology of the films was studied by field emission scanning electron microscopy. The resistivity was measured by van der Pauw technique. The conductivity of the doped films was seen to increase with the iodine concentration and many fold increase in conductivity was observed in comparison to the pristine films. The increase in conductivity is due to the generation of polaron band in the band gap upon iodine doping.     

Fabrication of flexible polymer dispersed liquid crystal films using conducting polymer thin films as the driving electrodes

Conducting polymers exhibit good mechanical and interfacial compatibility with plastic substrates. We prepared an optimized coating formulation based on poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT) and 3-(trimethoxysilyl)propyl acrylate and fabricated a transparent electrode on poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) substrate. The surface resistances and transmittance of the prepared thin films were 500-600 Ω/□ and 87% at 500 nm, respectively. To evaluate the performance of the conducting polymer electrode, we fabricated a five-layer flexible polymer-dispersed liquid crystal (PDLC) device as a PET-PEDOT-PDLC-PEDOT-PET flexible film. The prepared PDLC device exhibited a low driving voltage (15 VAC), high contrast ratio (60:1), and high transmittance in the ON state (60%), characteristics that are comparable with those of conventional PDLC film based on indium tin oxide electrodes. The fabrication of conducting polymer thin films as the driving electrodes in this study showed that such films can be used as a substitute for an indium tin oxide electrode, which further enhances the flexibility of PDLC film.     

Effect of iodine solutions on polyaniline films

Polyaniline (PANI) emeraldine-base films have been exposed to iodine solutions. The interaction between the films and the iodine solution was studied using the quartz-crystal microbalance (QCM) technique and the UV-visible absorption spectroscopy. The iodine-treated film of emeraldine base was subjected to dedoping process using 0.1 M ammonia solution. The resulting film was exposed again to the previously used iodine solution. Iodine was found to play multiple roles: the ring-iodination of PANI film, the oxidation of PANI to pernigraniline base, and iodine doping to PANI salt. A sensor based on PANI-coated electrode of QCM was developed to monitor the presence of iodine in solution.     

Electrical conductivity of polyaniline doped PVC-PMMA polymer blends

The electrical conductivity of polyaniline doped polyvinylchloride (PVC) and poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) thin films has been measured by studying the I–V characteristics at various temperatures in the range 323–363 K. The results are presented in the form of I–V characteristics and analysis has been made by interpretation of Poole-Frenkel, Fowler-Nordheim, Schottky ln(J) vs T plots, Richardson and Arrhenius plots. The analysis of these results suggests that Schottky and Richardson mechanisms are primarily responsible for the observed conduction.     

Thermal inkjet printing of polyaniline on paper

The development of organic devices requires the fabrication of thin films, and inkjet printing has been shown to be a suitable method to reach this goal. This work describes the printing process and characterisation of polyaniline (PANI) printed on bond and photographic papers using a desktop inkjet thermal printer. To enable printing, a solution composed by PANI, n-methyl-2-pyrrolidone, ethylene glycol, alcohol and water must be prepared. PANI is printed on bond and photographic paper and then doping of PANI is performed by hydrochloric acid vapour exposure. Micro-Raman spectroscopy showed that PANI printed on paper keeps its basic characteristics. The results from electrical measurements showed that the surface resistivity of the printed PANI samples decreases by increasing the printing number, i.e. the number of layers that were deposited, and depends slightly on the paper type. A stretched semicircle followed by a linear upward tail, attributed to Warburg impedance combined with other intrinsic mechanisms of PANI on porous media, are always present on the Cole-Cole plots obtained for doped-PANI on bond paper. It was shown that these parameters significantly change with the relative humidity, opening the possibility to apply PANI/paper-based devices as humidity sensors.     

The carbonization of thin polyaniline films

Polyaniline films on silicon and ceramic supports were prepared in situ during the oxidative polymerization of aniline. The films were heated up to 500 °C in an inert nitrogen atmosphere. The changes in molecular structure during the carbonization have been studied by infrared spectroscopy and Raman scattering using 514, 633 and 785 nm laser excitation lines. The transformation from polyaniline salt to the base form has been detected above 100 °C. The conversion to nitrogen-containing carbon-like material followed above 200 °C. The molecular structure of the films produced during heating to 500 °C contains crosslinked phenazine-like and oxidized quinonoid units. The aniline oligomers deposited on the support in the early stages of aniline oxidation are stable during heating as it has been observed by resonance Raman scattering using 785 nm laser excitation line. The water contact angles changed after carbonization, and the films became more hydrophilic as carbonization progressed.     

Fabrication of self-assembled polyaniline films by doping-induced deposition

The ultrathin films of polyaniline (PAni)/poly (styrenesulfonic acid)(PSSA) were fabricated via a novel self-assembling process by alternately immersing the substrates into dilute PAni solution in N-methylpyrrolidinone (NMP) and the aqueous solution of PSSA. The process was characterized by UV–Vis absorption spectroscopy. It was found that the oxidation state of polyaniline in single monolayers was dependent on the thickness of the film. The self-assembling mechanism was based on the acid-base reaction between PAni and PSSA. The thickness of the films can be easily manipulated at nanometer scale by controlling the solution chemistry and recycling times. The resulting films are uniform and adhere strongly to the substrates.     

Preparation and characterizations of polyaniline (PANI)/ZnO nanocomposites film using solution casting method

Polyaniline (PANI)-ZnO nanoparticles composites film has been successfully fabricated by solution casting technique on glass substrate in which ZnO nanopowder was prepared via auto combustion method and used as inorganic materials. The as-grown nanocomposites film has been characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) for their structural and morphological characterizations. X-ray diffraction studies of as-grown film showed the reflection of ZnO nanoparticles along with a broad peak of PANI. The AFM study of the film shows the incorporation of ZnO nanoparticles into the polymer matrix which was further supported by roughness measurement. TEM images showed that the size of ZnO nanoparticles in the nanocomposites increase from ~ 35 nm to ~ 45 nm, indicating the interaction of nanoparticles with PANI molecular chains. FTIR spectra showed a band at 501 cm⁻¹ due to ZnO nanoparticles while the hydrogen bonding between the amine group of PANI and ZnO nanoparticles had been confirmed from the presence of the absorption band at 1148 cm⁻¹.     

Fabrication of chemiluminescence sensor based on conducting polymer@SiO2/Nafion composite film

Tris(2,2'-bipyridyl)ruthenium (II) (Ru(bpy)2+) electrogerated chemiluminescence (ECL) sensor was fabricated by immobilization of Ru(bpy)2+ complex on conducting polymer@SiO2/Nafion composite film on surface of glassy carbon electrode. The conducting polymer@SiO2 nanocomposites were prepared by coating polyaniline (PANI), polypyrrole (PPy), and polythiophene (PTh) on the surface of the SiO2 sphere. The conducting polymer@SiO2 nanocomposite was characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and atomic force microscopy (AFM). The sensitivity and reproducibility of the prepared ECL sensor to tripropylamine (TPA) was evaluated. As a result, the PPy@SiO2 composite electrode exhibited high sensitivity and good reproducibility compared to that obtained with PANI@SiO2 and PTh@SiO2 composite electrodes because of the strong interaction between PPy@SiO2 and Ru(bpy)2+ complex.     

Fabrication of nanostructure on a polymer film using atomic force microscope

SPM based lithographic techniques have been developed to pattern various substrates such as metals, semiconductors, and organic/polymer films due to its simplicity and high spatial precision nanostructure. Fabrication of nanostructure using polymeric materials is a key technique for the development of nanodevices. Here, we report the fabrication of nanostructures from polyacrylicacid (PAA) and polymethacrylicacid (PMAA) film on a silicon substrate using atomic force microscope (AFM). The formation of the nanopattern from the polymer film was studied using electrostatic nanolithography and the optimization of the conditions for nanopatterning of the polymer film was investigated with respect to the applied potential and translational speed of the AFM tip. The nanostructure of size 28 nm was created using the biased AFM tip on the PMAA film coated on Si(100) substrate and found that this method is a direct and reliable method to produce uniform nanostructures on a polymer film.     

Magnetic composites of conducting polyaniline/nano-sized magnetite and their magnetorheology

Magnetorheological (MR) fluids, composed of colloidal particles dispersed in a carrier liquid, possess controllable rheological properties by an external magnetic field, showing dramatic changes of yield stress and shear viscosity caused by transformation between solid-like to liquid-like state. As a new MR material, we synthesized conducting polyaniline (PANI)/nano-sized Fe₃O₄ composites which could be adopted as a dispersed phase of MR fluids. Composites containing nano-sized Fe₃O₄ were synthesized via a chemical reaction method. Microstructure of the PANI/Fe₃O₄ composites was characterized by SEM and XRD. Magnetic property of the composites was characterized by VSM. Furthermore, MR fluid based on PANI/Fe₃O₄ composites was investigated using a rotational rheometer equipped with a magnetic field generator, exhibiting a typical MR performance of which shear stress of the fluids increased abruptly under magnetic fields.     

Fabrication of ZnO thin film diode using laser annealing

A p-n homojunction was obtained by Nd:YAG laser annealing of Zn₃P₂/n-ZnO thin film. The deposition process of ZnO and Zn₃P₂ thin film was performed by pulsed laser deposition (PLD). A p-n junction was formed by Nd:YAG laser annealing of Zn₃P₂/n-ZnO thin film and showed typical I-V characteristics of a diode. Laser annealing could be a useful technique for the fabrication of an ultraviolet light-emitting diode or an ultraviolet laser diode.     

Stable Langmuir-Blodgett film deposition of polyaniline and arachidic acid

An experimental study was carried out to examine the stable Langmuir-Blodgett (LB) film deposition of mixtures of polyaniline (PA) and arachidic acid (AA) at different concentration ratios, with the aim of developing a systematic methodology for the production of quality PA/AA film at the highest deposition speed. The quality of LB film was examined before, during and after the film deposition process. Images of the PA/AA composite materials at air-liquid interface, based on the Brewster angle microscopy, revealed that a 50/50 concentration ratio of PA/AA composite layer produced the best LB film structure. The feasibility of LB film deposition was determined from dynamic contact angles which were measured by a flow visualization technique. The quality of the deposited film was judged by the transfer ratio and the atomic force microscopy images. The effect of pH was also examined, and it was found that the LB film deposition for the PA/AA system could only be carried out in a narrow range of pH. It was found that the deposited LB film of the PA/AA system had a high transfer ratio and improved surface roughness at the deposition speed 30 mm/min. This deposition speed is much higher than those previously reported.     

Fabrication of a highly sensitive magnetic sensor using an HTS thick film

A highly sensitive magnetic sensor based on Y₁Ba₂Cu₃O_7−x (YBCO) has been fabricated by the spray technique. The value of resistance R_ms in the transitional region ΔT of the thick film, was highly sensitive to the applied magnetic field B_ex. Here, ΔT is the transitional temperature region between the resistance drop temperature T_c^onset and residual resistance temperature T_c^res. The value of residual resistance R_res for an applied magnetic field of 80×10⁻⁴ T (80 G) exhibited an increase of about 580% over the resistance found in a zero magnetic field, and did not display any evidence of hysteresis. The fabrication and magnetic characteristics are discussed.     

Determination of the dopant weight fraction in polyaniline films using a quartz-crystal microbalance

The electrical conductivity of polyaniline depends on factors such as degree of oxidation, type of protonation, and dopant weight fraction. The last of these factors is connected with the loss of mass during the deprotonation of polyaniline, and can thus conveniently be determined in situ by the use of a quartz microbalance. This is illustrated in the present paper which concerns the determination of the weight fraction of acid in thin polyaniline films prepared by the chemical oxidation of aniline in the aqueous solutions of sulfuric and phosphoric acids. It is illustrated that the deprotonation-reprotonation processes are fast, complete, and reversible. Polyaniline has sulfate counter-ions in 0.1 M sulfuric acid while, in 0.5-1 M sulfuric acid, hydrogen sulfate counter-ions are present. The quartz microbalance involving polyaniline films can be used in the sensing of the acidity.