Industrial Consultancy & Sponsored Research (IC&SR) , IIT Madras
Polymeric Sensor Device for Vapor Sensing, Method of Sensing and Method of Preparation thereof
Technology Category/ Market
Category – Advanced materials
Applications –Sensors , semiconductors, protective coatings, Solar batteries, capacitors piezoelectric devices, optoelectronics
Industry – Semiconductors,Advanced materials
Market -The Advanced Materials Market size was estimated at USD 73.78 billion in 2022 and expected to reach USD 78.25 billion in 2023, at a CAGR 6.19% to reach USD 119.35 billion by 2030.
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Problem Statement
- The demand for highly sensitive sensors capable of detecting various chemical species, especially in the form of chemical vapors or gases, has been growing rapidly.
- Conducting polymers that are commercially available have shown promise in vapor sensing due to their facile low-temperature processing but have limitations in terms of limited sensitivity, long response time and recovery time , use of noble metals with high manufacturing costs and complexity
Technology
The present invention disclose a sensor for sensing a species comprising:
- The said conductive polymer has an electrical conductivity in the range of of 10-3 to 105 S/cm
- Conductive Polymer includes PEDOT:PSS, PEDOT:PSS composites, polyaniline (PANI), or polypyrrole (PPy).
- Substrate Material include Non-conductive materials such as PDMS, PET, SEBS, or rubber.
- Film thickness is 10 nm to 10 µm, further crack depth engineered is in the range of the film thickness
- Further, the detection species include water vapor, steam or alcohol vapor.
Key Features/ Value Proposition
Technical Perspective:
- Achieving high sensitive vapor sensors by using an electrically conducting polymer cast on flexible substrates
- The film includes cracks configured to disrupt electrical flow across the polymer film
- The cracks are nanostructured to impart a high electrical resistance to the sensor, and the sensor is configured to exhibit increase in conductance by a factor of at least 10 on exposure to the species to be detected.
User Perspective:
- Nanostructured PEDOT:PSS thin film exhibited superior behavior to commercially used breath analyzer
- Swelling of conducting polymer upon absorbing vapors restores the electrical conduction leading to high response resistive vapor sensing
- The sensor may be used to detect alcohol vapors or humidity.
- Cost effective, simple and can be used in flexible solar cells, flexible electrodes, flexible displays and flexible interconnects
Questions about this Technology?
Contact for Licensing
sm-marketing@imail.iitm.ac.in
ipoffice2@iitm.ac.in
Research Lab
Prof. Manu Jaiswal
Dillip Kumar Satapathy
Department of Physics
Intellectual Property
- IITM IDF Ref. 1671
- IN 471375-Granted
Technology Readiness Level
TRL- 4
Technology Validated in Lab