Multi-mode humidity sensing with water-soluble copper phthalocyanine for increased sensitivity and dynamic range

Aqueous solubility of copper phthalocyanine-3,4′,4″,4″′-tetrasulfonic acid tetrasodium salt (CuPcTs) enables fabrication of flexible electronic devices by low cost inkjet printing. We (1) investigate water adsorption kinetics on CuPcTs for better understanding the effects of relative humidity (RH) on hydrophilic phthalocyanines, and (2) assess CuPcTs as a humidity-sensing material. Reaction models show that H(2)O undergoes 2-site adsorption which can be represented by a pair of sequentially-occurring pseudo-first order reactions. Using high frequency (300–700 THz) and low frequency (1–8 MHz) dielectric spectroscopy combined with gravimetric measurements and principal component analysis, we observe that significant opto-electrical changes in CuPcTs occur at RH ≈ 60%. The results suggest that rapid H(2)O adsorption takes place at hydrophilic sulfonyl/salt groups on domain surfaces at low RH, while slow adsorption and diffusion of H(2)O into CuPcTs crystallites leads to a mixed CuPcTs-H(2)O phase at RH > 60%, resulting in high frequency dielectric screening of the film by water and dissociation of Na(+) from CuPc(SO(3) (−))(4) ions. The CuPcTs-H(2)O interaction can be tracked using a combination of gravimetric, optical, and electrical sensing modes, enabling accurate ( ± 2.5%) sensing in the ~0–95% RH range with a detection limit of less than 0.1% RH.