title: A model of polyelectrolyte conductance in moist solvents as a basis of water sensors.
abstract: The conductance of interpenetrated polymer networks (IPNs) containing quaternary amino groups was studied in cyclohexane, toluene, ethyl ether, ethyl acetate, and tetrahydrofurane as a function of water content by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. IPNs were then used as sensitive materials to detect water traces in organic solvents with promising results for the construction of a moisture sensor. The detection onset for water concentration increased with the dielectric constant of the solvent. Different IPN-based sensors in the same solvent showed a detection limit at lower water concentration if their characteristic plot [conductance/relative humidity (RH%) in air] was shifted toward lower RH%. This suggests that the composition of this class of polymers can be tuned to achieve the best performance for each solvent.
authors.affiliation: Istituto per la Sintesi Organica e la Fotoreattività (ISOF), Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR), via P. Gobetti 101, 40129 Bologna, Italy.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Casalbore-Miceli
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Zanelli
authors.forename: A W
authors.initials: AW
authors.lastname: Rinaldi
authors.forename: E M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Girotto
authors.forename: M-J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Y-S
authors.initials: YS
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Li