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Substituted polythiophene-based sensor for detection of ammonia in gaseous and aqueous environment

  • Polymers & biopolymers
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Abstract

This manuscript presents the preparation of polymer layers based on polythiophene (PTh) and its 3-substituted derivatives (substituents 4-(CH3O)C6H4 and 4-(CF3)C6H4 marked as PThOCH3 and PThCF3, respectively) on platinum electrodes by cyclic voltammetry (CV). The polymerization process and the morphology of resulting layers were discussed analysing of CV-voltammograms and scanning electron microscopy (SEM), respectively. Subsequently, the prepared polymers were tested as active/sensitive media of two types of sensors: (i) electrochemical sensor detecting ammonia in aqueous environment, whose response was evaluated by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS); (ii) chemiresistor detecting NH3 in atmosphere, whose response was evaluated by measurement of resistance. It was found that both the physical (morphology, homogeneity, relative thickness) and receptor properties of the polymer layer deposited on electrode surface are significantly affected by the nature of substituent attached to the thiophene ring. The mutual context of ammonia detection in both environments is discussed.

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Acknowledgements

Authors are grateful to S. Effenberková for assistance in electrochemical measurements, M. Trchová for spectroscopic measurements, professor P. Matějka for discussion of spectroscopic results. This work was supported by a specific University research grant (Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic UCT Prague, CZ, 402850061). M. Vrňata, J. Otta and P. Fitl acknowledge the support from Czech Science Foundation (GAČR) project No. 22-14886S and Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic project No. 8F21008 and project No. JP22420 from the International Visegrad Fund.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Analytical Chemistry, University of Chemistry and Technology Prague, Technická 5, 166 28, Prague 6, Czech Republic

    Tatiana V. Shishkanova & Gabriela Broncová

  2. Department of Organic Chemistry, University of Chemistry and Technology Prague, Technická 5, 166 28, Prague 6, Czech Republic

    Tomáš Tobrman

  3. Department of Physics and Measurements, University of Chemistry and Technology Prague, Technická 5, 166 28, Prague 6, Czech Republic

    Jaroslav Otta, Přemysl Fitl & Martin Vrňata

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  1. Tatiana V. Shishkanova
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Correspondence to Tatiana V. Shishkanova.

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Shishkanova, T.V., Tobrman, T., Otta, J. et al. Substituted polythiophene-based sensor for detection of ammonia in gaseous and aqueous environment. J Mater Sci 57, 17870–17882 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-022-07694-8

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