Open Access
Synchrotron Radiation/Fourier Transform-Infrared Microspectroscopy Study of Undesirable Water Inclusions in Solid-Contact Polymeric Ion-Selective Electrodes
Author(s) -
JeanPierre Veder,
Kunal Patel,
Graeme Clarke,
Ewa GrygołowiczPawlak,
Debbie S. Silvester,
Roland De Marco,
Ernö Pretsch,
Eric Bakker
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
analytical chemistry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.117
H-Index - 332
eISSN - 1520-6882
pISSN - 0003-2700
DOI - 10.1021/ac101009n
Subject(s) - pedot:pss , contact angle , chemistry , fourier transform infrared spectroscopy , synchrotron , synchrotron radiation , micrometer , infrared , polymer , membrane , chemical engineering , absorption (acoustics) , analytical chemistry (journal) , polymer chemistry , composite material , materials science , optics , organic chemistry , biochemistry , physics , engineering
This paper reports on three-dimensional synchrotron radiation/Fourier transform-infrared microspectroscopy (SR/FT-IRM) imaging studies of water inclusions at the buried interface of solid-contact-ion-selective electrodes (SC-ISEs). It is our intention to describe a nondestructive method that may be used in surface studies of the buried interfaces of materials, especially multilayers of polymers. Herein, we demonstrate the power of SR/FT-IRM for studying water inclusions at the buried interfaces of SC-ISEs. A poly(methyl methacrylate)-poly(decyl methacyrlate) [PMMA-PDMA] copolymer revealed the presence of micrometer sized inclusions of water at the gold/membrane interface, while a coupling of a hydrophobic solid contact of poly(3-octylthiophene 2,5-diyl) (POT) prevented the accumulation of water at the buried interface. A similar study with a poly (3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene)/poly (styrenesulfonate) [PEDOT/PSS] solid contact also revealed an absence of distinct micrometer-sized pools of water; however, there were signs of absorption of water accompanied by swelling of the PEDOT/PSS underlayer, and these membrane zones are enriched with respect to water.