Ionic Liquids and Conductive Polymers for Construction of Chemical and Biosensors

Abstract

Chemicals and materials with active ionic species are widely employed in various chemical and electrochemical applications such as solvents, catalysts, sensors, fuel cells, batteries, atomic switches, etc. Ionic liquids (IL) are liquids often composed of bulky organic cations or anions whereas conductive polymers are solids with dopant ions in a rigid organic framework. In this presentation, I will discuss the fundamental research of ionic liquid and conductive polymer interface electrochemistry for sensor applications. Being composed entirely of ions and with a broad structural and functional diversity i.e., bifunctional (organic/inorganic), biphasic (solid/liquid), and biproperty (solvent/electrolyte) materials, ionic liquids have the complementing attributes and the required variability to allow a systematic design process across many components to enhance sensing capability for miniaturized gas sensor system implementation. Being composed with dopant ions in a rigid organic framework, the unique properties of conductive polymers allow ease of functionalization with bio-recognition elements and enable label free electrochemical, optical and mass sensing technologies for study bio-interactions on a single platform. The simplicity of the demonstrated detection principles could yield forward-thinking solutions to many sensors challenges, especially miniaturization and robustness that is essential for their integration with engineering advancements such as portable electronics, networked sensing and next-generation monolithic implementation of autonomous sensors with the performance, cost, power, and operational lifetime characteristics to suit a broad range of applications.