Abstract
AbstractThis work presents screen‐printed thick film reference electrodes (REs) on a polyethylene terephthalate substrate. The ion‐conducting channel of presented screen‐printed thick film Ag|AgCl|KCl electrodes are made from a composite of glass–KCl powder. With this new formulation the REs exhibit negligible variation in the potential (±4 mV), when evaluated under different bending states (radius 3, 5, and 7 mm). With a stable electrode potential and in‐depth electrochemical studies, the utility of the presented REs for pH‐sensing and flexible supercapacitor (SC) applications is demonstrated. With amperometric studies, we have shown that for pH‐sensing applications, the presented REs can exhibit a sensitivity of 9 µA pH−1. At 1 mHz, the electrochemical investigations involving presented thick film REs and graphene‐based SCs demonstrate a capacitance of 75 µF cm−2. With a flexible form factor, high endurance, and a miniature size, the presented RE has distinct advantages over conventional glass‐based REs, particularly for emerging applications such as flexible sensing and for characterization of materials for energy storage devices.
Highlights
This work presents screen-printed thick film reference electrodes (REs) on a emerging wearable systems
The stable open circuit potential (OCP) (68 mV vs glass-based Ag|AgCl RE) of FREs is owing to the new glass– KCl composite based paste, which is screen printed on to AgCl layer
The fabricated FREs have been evaluated against GRE, in context with their suitability for characterizing electrochemical pH sensors and the electrodes of SCs
Summary
The cross-sectional image in Figure 2e shows that the KCl composite film prepared using copolymer and KCl powder is strongly adherent to the Ag electrode film. This strong adhesion allows the RE to withstand the bending stress. The observed contact angle is about 48°, which indicates the hydrophilic nature of film while reacting with the solution This strong interaction of FRE with the solution enhances the performance of sensors
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