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Updated: Jun 24, 2025

Thermal Scanning Conductometry TSC as a General Method for Studying and Controlling the Phase Behavior of Conductive Physical Gels
Published on: January 23, 2018
Probing the ionic activation enthalpies in anionic polysaccharide xerogel-based single ion conductor for temperature
Gaurav Kumar1, Siddhartha Panda2
1Materials Science Programme, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, Kanpur, UP 208016, India; National Center for Flexible Electronics, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, Kanpur, UP 208016, India.
Abstract:
Ionic charge transport in polymer-based solid electrolytes is significantly affected by thermal perturbations, facilitating the detection of temperature variations. However, the impact of ionic interactions and molecular arrangements in polymeric single-ion conductors (SICs) has not been thoroughly investigated for temperature sensing. By probing the effect of the associated energies for ionic interactions and polymeric rearrangements, the thermal sensing characteristics of alginate have been studied. For the first time, alginate SIC interacting with multivalent ions (viz., Na+, Ca2+ and Fe3+) to form xerogel has been exploited as a temperature-sensing layer by fabricating a xerogel-based ionic thermistor (xIT) as a temperature sensor. The xIT has demonstrated stable functioning from 25 to 70 °C and unveiled enhanced sensing abilities in the physiological state of the human body (35-40 °C), exhibiting a monotonic linear response, high sensitivity (-3.77 % °C-1), and high accuracy (0.1 °C). The sensing characteristic is observed due to the inward ionic flux under thermal and electrical perturbations. The concentration of ionic charge carriers and ionic drift are assumed to be Arrhenius-activated processes. A general microscopic model of ion transport within polysaccharides has been elucidated via hopping mechanisms, and the effects of the associated activation energies on temperature sensitivity have been explained.
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