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The dual role of Parylene C in chemical sensing: acting as an encapsulant and as a sensing membrane for pH monitoring applications

The dual role of Parylene C in chemical sensing: acting as an encapsulant and as a sensing membrane for pH monitoring applications
The dual role of Parylene C in chemical sensing: acting as an encapsulant and as a sensing membrane for pH monitoring applications
In this work, we demonstrate a new property of Parylene C emphasizing on its application in pH sensing technologies. For many decades the material has been extensively used as a biocompatible inert encapsulant of implantable micro-devices. Towards a new understanding of the material's potential, we explore the transformation of Parylene C from a passive encapsulation membrane into an active H+ sensing membrane using discrete MOSFETs to evaluate its chemical sensing performance. We employ oxygen plasma treatment to functionalize Parylene's H+ sensing capacity and enhance the chemical sensitivity, drift rates, and reliability of the sensing devices. Moreover, we demonstrate a versatile technique that enables the deployment of the material both as an encapsulant and as a sensing membrane in a single platform, in order to benefit from distinguishable and consistent sensitivities, and low leakage currents during pH measurements. Our investigation reveals that the selective modification of Parylene's surface chemistry yields reliable pH sensing devices, ensuring the best combination of sensitivity (16.3 mV/pH) and leakage currents (6-10 nA) over a reasonably wide pH range (4-10), while drift rates remain in low levels (2.5-20 mV/h). We believe that this study opens up new application horizons for Parylene, which is a new promising material in the emerging field of flexible electronics able to deliver low film thicknesses and high biocompatibility, while facilitating the application of mechanical stimulus.
0925-4005
1-8
Trantidou, Tatiana
d5672813-459c-47da-9de0-843449d3ce25
Payne, David J.
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Tsiligkiridis, Vasileios
a7721071-5ea5-4d0d-9579-1138374c3243
Chang, Yu-Chun
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Toumazou, Christofer
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Prodromakis, Themistoklis
d58c9c10-9d25-4d22-b155-06c8437acfbf
Trantidou, Tatiana
d5672813-459c-47da-9de0-843449d3ce25
Payne, David J.
86215d60-f3d8-4518-824b-8ce779ef739f
Tsiligkiridis, Vasileios
a7721071-5ea5-4d0d-9579-1138374c3243
Chang, Yu-Chun
eecf0553-c4d3-41bf-a693-a6edc31e8595
Toumazou, Christofer
7a856162-f970-4ef4-8a57-5822d8a69281
Prodromakis, Themistoklis
d58c9c10-9d25-4d22-b155-06c8437acfbf

Trantidou, Tatiana, Payne, David J., Tsiligkiridis, Vasileios, Chang, Yu-Chun, Toumazou, Christofer and Prodromakis, Themistoklis (2013) The dual role of Parylene C in chemical sensing: acting as an encapsulant and as a sensing membrane for pH monitoring applications. Sensors and Actuators B: Chemical, 186, 1-8. (doi:10.1016/j.snb.2013.05.077).

Record type: Article

Abstract

In this work, we demonstrate a new property of Parylene C emphasizing on its application in pH sensing technologies. For many decades the material has been extensively used as a biocompatible inert encapsulant of implantable micro-devices. Towards a new understanding of the material's potential, we explore the transformation of Parylene C from a passive encapsulation membrane into an active H+ sensing membrane using discrete MOSFETs to evaluate its chemical sensing performance. We employ oxygen plasma treatment to functionalize Parylene's H+ sensing capacity and enhance the chemical sensitivity, drift rates, and reliability of the sensing devices. Moreover, we demonstrate a versatile technique that enables the deployment of the material both as an encapsulant and as a sensing membrane in a single platform, in order to benefit from distinguishable and consistent sensitivities, and low leakage currents during pH measurements. Our investigation reveals that the selective modification of Parylene's surface chemistry yields reliable pH sensing devices, ensuring the best combination of sensitivity (16.3 mV/pH) and leakage currents (6-10 nA) over a reasonably wide pH range (4-10), while drift rates remain in low levels (2.5-20 mV/h). We believe that this study opens up new application horizons for Parylene, which is a new promising material in the emerging field of flexible electronics able to deliver low film thicknesses and high biocompatibility, while facilitating the application of mechanical stimulus.

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Published date: 30 May 2013
Organisations: Nanoelectronics and Nanotechnology

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 353629
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/353629
ISSN: 0925-4005
PURE UUID: c712c602-c2f6-4ab5-9232-27ac260fa311
ORCID for Themistoklis Prodromakis: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-6267-6909

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Date deposited: 12 Jun 2013 10:16
Last modified: 14 Mar 2024 14:07

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Contributors

Author: Tatiana Trantidou
Author: David J. Payne
Author: Vasileios Tsiligkiridis
Author: Yu-Chun Chang
Author: Christofer Toumazou
Author: Themistoklis Prodromakis ORCID iD

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