Porous polycarbene-bearing membrane actuator for ultrasensitive weak-acid detection and real-time chemical reaction monitoring.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 29712899.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/s41467-018-03938-x and PMC identifier 5928224.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
Soft actuators with integration of ultrasensitivity and capability of simultaneous interaction with multiple stimuli through an entire event ask for a high level of structure complexity, adaptability, and/or multi-responsiveness, which is a great challenge. Here, we develop a porous polycarbene-bearing membrane actuator built up from ionic complexation between a poly(ionic liquid) and trimesic acid (TA). The actuator features two concurrent structure gradients, i.e., an electrostatic complexation (EC) degree and a density distribution of a carbene-NH<sub>3</sub> adduct (CNA) along the membrane cross-section. The membrane actuator performs the highest sensitivity among the state-of-the-art soft proton actuators toward acetic acid at 10<sup>-6</sup> mol L<sup>-1</sup> (M) level in aqueous media. Through competing actuation of the two gradients, it is capable of monitoring an entire process of proton-involved chemical reactions that comprise multiple stimuli and operational steps. The present achievement constitutes a significant step toward real-life application of soft actuators in chemical sensing and reaction technology.