Electrical Engineering

   

Composite Polymer Chemiresistors

Related Links

The composite polymer chemiresistors use a combination of conducting agent (such as carbon black) mixed with an insulating, chemically sensitive polymer to create a resistance that increases in response to the presence of analyte. Analytes typically cause swelling of the polymer to various degrees, resulting in an increase in resistance from baseline.

The data contained in these pages use the 'comp_polymer' technology type and the function chemiresistor (located in the chemiresistor.m file on the previous page). Data are collected from the technical literature, from personal communications, from laboratories here at UW, and other sources. All available information regarding the experiments used to produce the data (and the corresponding models) are provided in each of the links above.

The basic composite polymer chemiresistor model for small concentrations assumes a linear response to analyte concentration as follows:
R = Ro + K1*[C]
where:
R = output resistance
Ro = baseline resistance (no analyte present)
K1 = proportionality constant (sensitivity)
[C] = analyte concentration in ppm