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Faculty Advisors

Chelsea N. Monty-Bromer

Description

Multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) are a material being integrated into a wide variety of fields due to their high tensile strength and high electrical and thermal conductivity. Implementing MWCNT into an electrochemical sensing platform has allowed for improved electrical performance by increasing sensor sensitivity. Through this work, fabrication of a nanocomposite used in a sensor that is able to measure the sodium ion concentrations found in sweat in real-time was studied to analyze the effects of incorporating MWCNT in the solution used in the production of the sensor. 0.5, 1, 2, and 5 weight percentages of MWCNT were incorporated into the solution. The solutions were then electrospun into a mat and cut into 1.2 cm by 1.2 cm sensor samples. The samples were then analyzed electrochemically using a potentiostat, to run direct current through two micro-alligator clips placed on the edges of the nanocomposite to ultimately measure the resistance at known concentrations of sodium solutions. The average resistance was then plotted against the sodium solutions to then observe the R^2 value of the best fit line to evaluate the performance of the sensors. Electrochemical analysis indicates that the sensor performance was optimized at 1 weight percent. The performance of these sensors at 1 weight percent also had the least variability in the regression model parameters considered. Future work that includes at least two more runs to be tested in a triplicate would determine if incorporating MWCNT into solution is a viable option to reduce the fabrication time.

Publication Date

2021

Department

Chemical and Biomedical Engineering

Student Publication

This item is part of the McNair Scholars Program.

Fabrication of Nylon-6/Multi-Walled Carbon Nanotube Composite for Sodium Ion Quantification

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