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. 2021 Jan 21;21(3):711.
doi: 10.3390/s21030711.

An Electrochemical Amperometric Ethylene Sensor with Solid Polymer Electrolyte Based on Ionic Liquid

Petr Kuberský  1 , Jiří Navrátil  1 , Tomáš Syrový  2 , Petr Sedlák  3 , Stanislav Nešpůrek  1 , Aleš Hamáček  1
Affiliations

An Electrochemical Amperometric Ethylene Sensor with Solid Polymer Electrolyte Based on Ionic Liquid

Petr Kuberský et al. Sensors (Basel). .

Abstract

An electrochemical amperometric ethylene sensor with solid polymer electrolyte (SPE) and semi-planar three electrode topology involving a working, pseudoreference, and counter electrode is presented. The polymer electrolyte is based on the ionic liquid 1-butyl 3-methylimidazolium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide [BMIM][NTf2] immobilized in a poly(vinylidene fluoride) matrix. An innovative aerosol-jet printing technique was used to deposit the gold working electrode (WE) on the solid polymer electrolyte layer to make a unique electrochemical active SPE/WE interface. The analyte, gaseous ethylene, was detected by oxidation at 800 mV vs. the platinum pseudoreference electrode. The sensor parameters such as sensitivity, response/recovery time, repeatability, hysteresis, and limits of detection and quantification were determined and their relation to the morphology and microstructure of the SPE/WE interface examined. The use of additive printing techniques for sensor preparation demonstrates the potential of polymer electrolytes with respect to the mass production of printed electrochemical gas sensors.

Keywords: ethylene; ionic liquid; printed electrochemical sensor; solid polymer electrolyte.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Fully-planar screen printed electrodes (250BT, DropSens); from the left: top view of the electrode topology, top view and cross section of the electrode topology with the ionic liquid layer.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Semi-planar topology of the new ethylene sensor.
Figure 3
Figure 3
(a) Sensor response to ten consecutive ethylene exposures (300 ppm), (b) Sensor response to one ethylene exposure with details for determining the response/recovery time and repeatability. Conditions: 22 °C, 40%RH, 101.325 kPa, 1 L/min.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Sensor response to a stepwise increase/decrease in ethylene concentration within the range 0–500 ppm (one step equals 100 ppm). Conditions: 22 °C, 40%RH, 101.325 kPa, 1 L/min.
Figure 5
Figure 5
(a) Sensor with semi-planar topology and screen printed solid polymer electrolyte (SPE) layer and working electrode (WE) (SP-SCRP), (b) Sensor with semi-planar topology and drop-cast SPE layer and aerosol-jet printed WE (SP-AJP), (c) SEM image of the SPE/WE interface of the SP-SCRP sensor, (d) SEM image of the SPE/WE interface of the SP-AJP sensor.
Figure 5
Figure 5
(a) Sensor with semi-planar topology and screen printed solid polymer electrolyte (SPE) layer and working electrode (WE) (SP-SCRP), (b) Sensor with semi-planar topology and drop-cast SPE layer and aerosol-jet printed WE (SP-AJP), (c) SEM image of the SPE/WE interface of the SP-SCRP sensor, (d) SEM image of the SPE/WE interface of the SP-AJP sensor.
Figure 6
Figure 6
(a) Sensor with semi-planar topology and gold “micro-grid” electrode, (b) Calibration curves of sensors with semi-planar electrode topology and different gold working electrode structures (each point represents a mean value of 3 repeated exposures with corresponding 95% confidence interval). Conditions: 22 °C, 40%RH, 101.325 kPa, 1 L/min.
Figure 7
Figure 7
Calibration curve for the sensor with semi-planar topology and aerosol-jet printed compact Au electrode (5 layers); each point represents a mean value of 3 repeated exposures with corresponding 95% confidence interval; inset: current-time record within the range 0–10 ppm in steps of 2 ppm. Conditions: 22 °C, 40%RH, 101.325 kPa, 1 L/min.
Figure 8
Figure 8
The amperometric ethylene sensor with the semi-planar topology on the flexible Kapton substrate: (a) Platinum pattern of the pseudoreference (RE) and counter (CE) electrode printed by the AJP technique, (b) Platinum pattern of the RE and CE fabricated by “lift-off” technology, (c) The ethylene sensor with the drop-cast SPE layer and AJP-printed gold WE, (d) The ethylene sensor with the screen printed SPE layer and gold WE.
Figure 9
Figure 9
Sensor response of the semi-planar topology on the flexible Kapton substrate to the stepwise increase in ethylene concentration within the range 0–500 ppm in steps of 100 ppm. Conditions: 22 °C, 40%RH, 101.325 kPa, 1 L/min.
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