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RESEARCH PRODUCT

Protecting emergency workers and armed forces from volatile toxic compounds: Applicability of reversible conductive polymer-based sensors in barrier materials

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International audience; Barrier materials have wide applicability in both professional (military, medical, industrial) and non-professional(leisure and sports) fields. This paper focuses on the preparation of real conductive polymer (CP) sensors, for thestudy of the permeation of volatile toxic compounds through barrier materials. Use of such a CP sensor can helpimprove the quality of barrier materials used in protective clothing. Several types of platforms have beenmanufactured or purchased for use as comb sensors with different electrode dimensions, and a suitable methodof applying the detection layer of conductive polymers (polyaniline and poly-pyrrole) has been developed. Prepared sensors were obtained using various technologies and were assessed not only for response to exposure tovapors of volatile toxic substances, but also for the possibility of their incorporation into a permeation cell, inorder to expand the possibilities of using existing permeation devices. The resulting conductivity of the surfacefilm ranges from 50 to 10,000 μS/cm. When exposed to ethanol vapors, the conductivity of the sensors droppedsignificantly and returned to the original value after exposure ended. The conductivity of the B12 CP sensor was inthe range of 10–100 mS/cm and is considered the most valuable tested sensor. CPs deposited on this substratehave very high sensitivity in units of ppm (in special cases, even ppb) within the detection of analytes (in thiscase toxic vapors of ethanol, acetic acid) and the ability to return to initial (zero) conductivity.