Structure, morphology and electrical behaviors of poly (3,4ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(4-styrenesulfonate) or PEDOT:PSS thin films are investigated in the presence of protein-mediated green chemically synthesized positively charged gold and silver nanoparticles. The pure and PEDOT:PSS nanocomposite thin films are prepared by spin coating method. The presence of both nanoparticle and polymer is confirmed from X-ray diffraction, whereas composite formation is confirmed from Raman and FTIR spectroscopy. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) images show the surface morphologies of both pure and composite films, whereas average film thicknesses are obtained from AFM and X-ray reflectivity analysis. The presence of electrostatic interaction between the positively charged metallic nanoparticles and negatively charged PSS chains leads to the electrostatic shielding between cationic PEDOT and anionic PSS, which favors better charge transfer through PEDOT-PEDOT conducting paths. The increase in electrical conductivity is visualized from the current-voltage (I-V) curves, which show that the conductivity is relatively higher in the presence of silver than gold nanoparticles in the composite thin films. The conductivity of nanocomposite films is approximately five to six times enhanced in comparison with the pristine PEDOT:PSS thin films.
We report here a novel optical technique for the continuous measurement of the level and the volume of transparent liquids in a cylindrical container. This measurement technique is based on the principle of liquid level induced modulation in the solid angle of a divergent light beam incident on liquid surface. This technique has advantages of being a very sensitive and non-intrusive way of measurement. The proposed technique has been experimentally tested with clean water, colored water, diluted glycerin, and pure glycerin by using liquid containers having 100-, 250-, and 500-mL capacity. Measurement results provide the highest sensitivity in the case of a container having smallest diameter. The proposed system is capable of measuring the liquid level and volume with approximate resolutions down to 3.2 m and 6.2 L, respectively, in the case of a 100-mL container. The sensitivity is found to decrease with the increasing diameter of the container as well as with the decreasing optical transparency of the liquids, but increase with the increasing refractive indices of transparent liquids. And this technique has an appreciably larger dynamic range of measurement, good linearity, and repeatability in the measurement responses.
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