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Ionic gel effect on a reference electrode in a flexible solid-state pH sensor

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Abstract

A flexible solid-state potentiometric pH sensor was fabricated in a polyimide substrate with and without ionic gel, KCl/agar electrolyte on the reference electrode. Two electrodes system was fabricated, a reference electrode (Ag/AgCl bilayer by E-beam evaporation and submersion into FeCl3) and a working electrode (indium tin oxide by RF sputtering). The ionic gel effect was evaluated by the potentiometric performance, by measuring the open-circuit potential at different pH values (4–10 pH range). Our results show a linear relationship between the sensor signal and pH for both sensors, with sensibilities of sensors ~ 30 (± 1) mV/pH and ~ 56 (± 2) mV/pH, with and without KCl/agar electrolyte, respectively.

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Data availability

The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Abbreviations

ITO:

Indium tin oxide

MO:

Metal oxide

SEM:

Scanning electron microscope

EDS:

Energy-dispersive spectroscopy

XRD:

X-ray diffraction

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Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to CONACYT for funding the research, Project FORDECYT-PRONACES LANITEM (296/2020) and No. 319037.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centro de Ingeniería y Desarrollo Industrial, Avenida Playa Pie de la Cuesta #702, 76125, Querétaro, Querétaro, Mexico

    Pablo Tirado, I. R. Chavez-Urbiola & Jesus J. Alcantar-Peña

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  1. Pablo Tirado
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  2. I. R. Chavez-Urbiola
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  3. Jesus J. Alcantar-Peña
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Correspondence to Jesus J. Alcantar-Peña.

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Tirado, P., Chavez-Urbiola, I.R. & Alcantar-Peña, J.J. Ionic gel effect on a reference electrode in a flexible solid-state pH sensor. MRS Communications 13, 41–46 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1557/s43579-022-00309-y

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