Electrochemical Capacitive K+ EMIS Chemical Sensor Based on the Dibromoaza[7]helicene as an Ionophore for Potassium Ions Detection

A K+‐sensitive capacitive electrolyte‐membrane‐insulator‐semiconductor (EMIS) based on a novel dibromoaza[7]helicene ionophore has been developed. An ion‐sensitive membrane based on polyvinylchloride (PVC) doped with the ionophore was deposited on the Si3N4/SiO2/Si‐p/Cu‐Al transducer. The properties of the K+‐EMIS chemical sensor were investigated by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). All the developed devices upon being tested have shown good sensitivity and linearity responses within the range 10−6 M to 10−1 M of potassium activity, with good selectivity over a wide variety of other cations (Na+, Li+, Cu2+, Ca2+, and Mg2+). To our knowledge, this is the first time that a capacitive field‐effect sensor has been fabricated using helicene as a carrier for K+‐detection, combined with the structure: Si3N4/SiO2/Si‐p/Cu‐Al as a transducer.