A fully textile-based skin pH sensor. Issue 1 (June 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Choi, Min-Young; Lee, Minji; Kim, Ji-Hye; Kim, Sooyoung; Choi, Jonghoon; So, Ju-Hee; Koo, Hyung-Jun
• Is Part Of: Journal of industrial textiles. Volume 51:Issue 1(2022)Supplement
• Page Start: 441S
• Page End: 457S
• Publication Date: 2022-06
• Subjects: Textile -- pH sensor -- polyaniline -- carbon nanotubes -- agarose -- potential variations; Textile fabrics -- Periodicals; Textile industry -- Periodicals; 677.005
• DOI: 10.1177/15280837211073361
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1528-0837

Abstract

This paper presents a textile-based pH sensor with high flexibility fabricated by printing a polymer composite as a working electrode and Ag/AgCl/solid electrolyte as a reference electrode on a textile substrate. The textile working electrode is composed of polyaniline, carbon nanotubes, and agarose printed on the textile. A thermoplastic polyurethane overlayer hot-pressed on the textile substrates provides a smooth hydrophobic surface, enabling a more stable formation of the composite films with a reliable output signal. The textile reference electrode is fabricated by printing Ag/AgCl paste and solid electrolyte. The fully textile-based pH sensor, by integrating the textile working and reference electrodes, exhibits a good sensitivity of 45.9 mV/pH with high linearity. The textile pH sensor maintains excellent performance and repeatability with 93% retention even in a bent state and after 1000 bending cycles. Finally, it is demonstrated that the textile pH sensor can detect the pH change on a piece of porcine skin. Graphical Abstract