Porous polycarbene-bearing membrane actuator for ultrasensitive weak-acid detection and real-time chemical reaction monitoring

• Published in: Nature communications Vol. 9; no. 1; pp. 1717 - 8
• Main Authors: Sun, Jian-Ke, Zhang, Weiyi, Guterman, Ryan, Lin, Hui-Juan, Yuan, Jiayin
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 30.04.2018; Nature Publishing Group; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: 639/301/923/1028; 639/638/455; Acetic acid; Acids; Actuation; Actuators; Adaptability; Ammonia; Chemical perception; Chemical reactions; Chemistry; Chemoreception; Complexation; Density distribution; Humanities and Social Sciences; Ionic liquids; Membranes; Monitoring; multidisciplinary; NMR; Nuclear magnetic resonance; Polymers; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Stimuli; Trimesic acid
• ISSN: 2041-1723; 2041-1723
• DOI: 10.1038/s41467-018-03938-x

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 3 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 −6  mol L −1 (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. The design of soft actuators which show high sensitivity and allow for simultaneous interaction with multiple stimuli still remains a challenge. Here the authors demonstrate a highly sensitive proton actuator which allows monitoring of an entire process of chemical reactions that comprise multiple stimuli and operational steps.