Nanochannel Templated Iridium Oxide Nanostructures for Wide-Range pH Sensing from Solutions to Human Skin Surface.

Herein we report the fabrication of highly sensitive solid-state pH sensors based on iridium oxide nanowires (IONWs) for a wide-range of pH measurements. IONWs were confined electrodeposits on the indium tin oxide (ITO) electrode using a highly ordered silica nanochannel membrane as the template. Subsequently removing the template produced amorphous IONWs consisting of hydrated iridium oxyhydroxides. The IONW/ITO sensor can rapidly respond to the pH of the aqueous solutions in a wide range (from 0 to 13), avoiding the acid and alkaline errors encountered by conventional pH electrodes and exhibiting a super-Nernst analytical sensitivity as high as 235.5 mV/pH in the very acidic range of ∼0-2.5 and 90.1 mV/pH beyond (pH = ∼2.5-13). The sensitivity was associated with the interconversion of oxidation states of iridium oxyhydroxides. While in the very acidic range, intercalation of Cl was proved to be responsible for the exceptionally high pH sensitivity. Moreover, the sensor was also demonstrated to work in organic solutions too. Finally, the flexible IONW/ITO electrode was prepared and interfaced to a wireless electrochemical device for real-time epidermal pH analysis with smartphones.