Preliminary Study on Printed Membrane by Aerosol Jet for Ion Detection in Industrial Field

Real-time measurement and monitoring of ions within solutions are in high demand in various fields, including medicine, water and soil monitoring. Therefore, a noninvasive approach for measuring potassium ion through potentiometric detection of electrochemical sensors is proposed. As a first prototype, noninvasive sensors were developed using Aerosol Jet Printing, an emerging printing technique, which provides high repeatability and stability even on flexible substrates. Different types of sensors were designed, fabricated and tested. On gold and carbon electrochemical electrodes, tests with and without the deposition of PEDOT:PSS as an interface material was conducted. Furthermore, a special ion-selective polymer membrane (PA3) and a polyvinylchloride (PVC) membrane were deposited and tested. Preliminary results on potassium ion measurement made with the non-bare sensors containing PEDOT:PSS showed higher sensitivity and stability than the bare sensors, thus without any interface material. The information reported thus represents a promising starting point for the development of a new sensor that can monitor ions within a solution and be exploited in a wide range of applications.