Organic semiconductors were used by scientists at the IISER in Trivandrum to create a new pH meter. A pH meter is a useful tool for determining the acidity of various chemicals. Most semiconducting materials, such as silicon, are formed inorganically. In laboratories and industries, PH meters are commonly used to determine the acidity and alkalinity of various substances. Using organic semiconductors, IISER TVM created a highly sensitive pH sensor. It is based on P3HT, a flexible polymer widely used in the electronics industry.
- Scientists at the IISER, Trivandrum, have developed a new pH meter using organic semiconductors.
- The pH meter is an important instrument for determining the acidity of various chemicals.
- There is no need to calibrate the device.
- However, for more complicated pH meters that are not calibrated frequently, it is necessary to develop pH meters that can detect very small changes in pH values and that use very small volumes for analysis.
- The team at IISER TVM has designed and produced a highly sensitizing pH sensor using a thin layer of organic semiconductors.
Scientists at the IISER, Trivandrum, have developed a new pH meter using organic semiconductors. The pH meter is an important instrument for determining the acidity of various chemicals.
Most semiconducting materials, like silicon, are inorganically formed. However, a new class of semiconductors is forming: semiconducting materials made of chemical compounds. They can conduct electricity and so on. Chemistry labs use various kinds of materials that contain carbon and hydrogen atoms. Imagine that a sheet of plastic can conduct electricity. These are called organic semiconductors or OSCs. Those are called non-metallic semiconductors or OSCs.
OSCs have attracted attention for their special properties. They are light, highly conductive and easily machined. OSCs are very light, cost less to make, are flexible and are abundant. Fabricating solar panels, transistors, and photodetectors using organic semiconductors is highly practical and effective. Organic semiconductors can easily be manufactured by simple inkjet printing and reel-to-reel printing. This allows easy and cheap fabrication of many different kinds of semiconductor electronics.
It is similar to the pH meter widely used in laboratories to measure the pH of various substances.
Scientists from the IISET-TVM have created an organic semiconductor-type device that allows designers to develop pH meters that are flexible and that allow users to quickly determine the acidity and alkalinity of different substances.
Dr. Bikas C. Das, Assistant Professor in the School of Physics, has developed a pH meter that can be used in laboratories to measure the acidity and alkalinity of various substances. Bikas Das, an Assistant Professor at the IIT-TVM, has invented a pH meter that can quickly measure different substances’ pH. It only needs a small drop from a fluid to get pH readings in a few milliseconds. There is no need to calibrate the device.
PH meters are widely used in laboratories and industries to test the acidity and alkalinity of different substances. PH sensitizers are made from many different materials, and even the paper that can change color from blue to red is a pH sensor.
However, for more complicated pH meters that are not calibrated frequently, it is necessary to develop pH meters that can detect very small changes in pH values and that use very small volumes for analysis. Some types of pH meters are used to measure the pH of bodily fluids, like blood, which is extremely difficult to measure accurately in an environment with no suitable fluid to test pH levels.
Typically, sensors are made from semiconductors referred to as ion-sensing field effect transistors (ISFETs). But these are mostly inorganically active or inert semiconductors coated with a polymer that prevents them from being in contact with the environment. In the past few years, efforts have been made to develop electronic devices using naturally occurring semiconductors, but the technology of developing an ISFET with an intrinsically good functional group has been difficult to develop.
IISER has solved this problem using an organic semiconductor.
The team at IISER TVM has designed and produced a highly sensitizing pH sensor using a thin layer of organic semiconductors. It is based on a flexible polymer – called P3HT – which is used in many different areas of the electronics industry, including organic photovoltaics, photodetectors and optical displays. The analysis drops into a P3HT thin film channel connected to the electrical supply. This allows it to detect pH values sensitive to voltage and electrical changes during draining.
Das says existing pH sensors are very sensitive but need a thin barrier to protect them. This helps reduce the operating voltage and improves the detection speed. Organic ISFET sensors are sensitive only to a very narrow pH range.
The ISER team has successfully demonstrated that their sensitivity can sense pH values varying from 3 to 12 within a few milliseconds. It does not require additional software for operation and does not become unstable for more than 5 minutes. It can also be used as a portable pH meter.
This sensor uses an ISFET to detect blood, sweat and saliva pH. It can be used as an easy way to make wearable sensors to monitor the acidity of bodily fluids such as blood, sweat and saliva. Because the sensor does not need to be calibrated, farmers can make their pH meters, which they can use to determine the acidity of their crops before they harvest crops.
Being very sensitive to pH changes, this pH sensor can be improved by using different kinds of organic molecules, as chemists regularly manufacture new molecules to improve the performance of their instruments.
