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

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