The article “Aerosol-jet-printed potentiometric pH sensor for sweat measurements in smart patches” has been published in the journal Sensing and Bio-Sensing Research No.43/Feb.2024. 

The authors of the article focused on investigating the feasibility of manufacturing ion-selective electrodes (ISEs). Their technology is based on a combination of a polyurethane membrane containing triodecylamine and an electrode printed with graphene nanoplatelets-based paste. Initial experiments involved fabricating the transducers using screen printing, and the pH-selective membranes were deposited by hand or by direct ink writing. The implementation of the aerosol-jet printing technique (AJP) and the deposition of the pH-selective membrane allowed the sensors to be significantly miniaturized. In this way, a low-cost method was achieved. This method additionally enables the automated production of millimeter-sized ISEs.  

In this paper, the authors presented the results of a study on different ISE deposition techniques in relation to the direct deposition method. They also focused on the performance of these methods on different substrates. The results showed that the choice of deposition method and substrate has a significant impact on the slope, calibration and repeatability, with the AJP technique being the most promising method.  

Sensors with AJP membranes on PET substrates showed comparable pH response and high repeatability to sensors with manually applied membranes. The combination of electrodes and membranes with AJP offers the possibility of developing compact and handy devices capable of monitoring pH levels in real time. 

Full article is available in Open Access: 

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214180424000187 

Jan Dominiczak, Jakub Krzemiński, Justyna Wojcieszek, Dominik Baraniecki, Filip Budny, Izabela Wojciechowska, Piotr Walter, Andrzej Pepłowski, Łukasz Górski, Małgorzata Jakubowska, Aerosol-jet-printed potentiometric pH sensor for sweat measurements in smart patches, „Sensing and Bio-Sensing Research”, Volume 43, February 2024, 100636, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbsr.2024.100636 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Different techniques for making sensors (a-c), a comparison of the sizes of sensors made by different techniques (d) and a presentation of the different stages of sensor manufacturing (e)