a b s t r a c tThe effects of substituting Si by M 4+ cations in soda-lime silica glasses were analyzed by impedance spectroscopy in the frequency range of 1 Hz-1 MHz. The glass composition was (mol%) 22Na 2 O·8CaO·65SiO 2 ·5MO 2 , M = Si, Ti, Ge, Zr, Sn, and Ce. Although the Na + concentration in the glasses is constant, the Zr-containing glass exhibits the highest dc conductivity and the lowest activation energy, while the Ce-containing glass exhibits the lowest conductivity. The activation energies obtained experimentally agree with those obtained by a theoretical equation proposed by Anderson and Stuart. The differences in electrical conductivity presented by the several M-containing glasses are attributed to the effect that the M 4+ ion has on the mobility of the diffusing Na + ion.

An electronic tongue (e-tongue) is a multisensory system usually applied to complex liquid media that uses computational/statistical tools to group information generated by sensing units into recognition patterns, which allow the identification/distinction of samples. Different types of e-tongues have been previously reported, including microfluidic devices. In this context, the integration of passive mixers inside microchannels is of great interest for the study of suppression/enhancement of sensorial/chemical effects in the pharmaceutical, food, and beverage industries. In this study, we present developments using a stereolithography technique to fabricate microfluidic devices using 3D-printed molds for elastomers exploring the staggered herringbone passive mixer geometry. The fabricated devices (microchannels plus mixer) are then integrated into an e-tongue system composed of four sensing units assembled on a single printed circuit board (PCB). Gold-plated electrodes are designed as an integral part of the PCB electronic circuitry for a highly automated platform by enabling faster analysis and increasing the potential for future use in commercial applications. Following previous work, the e-tongue sensing units are built functionalizing gold electrodes with layer-by-layer (LbL) films. Our results show that the system is capable of (i) covering basic tastes below the human gustative perception and (ii) distinguishing different suppression effects coming from the mixture of both strong and weak electrolytes. This setup allows for triplicate measurements in 12 electrodes, which represents four complete sensing units, by automatically switching all electrodes without any physical interaction with the sensor. The result is a fast and reliable data acquisition system, which comprises a suitable solution for monitoring, sequential measurements, and database formation, being less susceptible to human errors.

In polycrystalline BiMn 2 O 5 , a broad thermal stimulated depolarization current curve has been observed in the range from 10 K to 300 K and the pyroelectric coefficient determined. In magnetic susceptibility measurements reported in the literature, features appearing in the pyroelectric coefficient could also be identified for the same temperatures, suggesting a connection between electric and magnetic data above the Néel temperature. A detailed study of the dielectric constant from 240 K to 700 K for an extended range of frequencies revealed a broad maximum at low frequencies, characteristic of relaxor ferroelectrics, following Vogel-Fulcher relation. A freezing temperature of the polar nanoregions T f ¼ 512 K has been determined. This high temperature ferroelectric behavior is attributed to the Bi 3þ in the distorted BiO 8 cage.

Incorporating electronic tongues into microfluidic devices brings benefits as dealing with small amounts of sample/discharge. Nonetheless, such measurements may be time-consuming in some applications once they require several operational steps. Here, we designed four collinear electrodes on a single printed circuit board, further comprised inside a straight microchannel, culminating in a robust e-tongue device for faster data acquisition. An analog multiplexing circuit automated the signal’s routing from each of the four sensing units to an impedance analyzer. Both instruments and a syringe pump are controlled by dedicated software. The automated e-tongue was tested with four Brazilian brands of liquid sucralose-based sweeteners under 20 different flow rates, aiming to systematically evaluate the influence of the flow rate in the discrimination among sweet tastes sold as the same food product. All four brands were successfully distinguished using principal component analysis of the raw data, and despite the nearly identical sucralose-based taste in all samples, all brands’ significant distinction is attributed to small differences in the ingredients and manufacturing processes to deliver the final food product. The increasing flow rate improves the analyte’s discrimination, as the silhouette coefficient reaches a plateau at ~3 mL/h. We used an equivalent circuit model to evaluate the raw data, finding a decrease in the double-layer capacitance proportional to improvements in the samples’ discrimination. In other words, the flow rate increase mitigates the formation of the double-layer, resulting in faster stabilization and better repeatability in the sensor response.

DC conductivity, frequency dependent dielectric constant and pyroelectric coefficients, obtained from thermal stimulated depolarization current curves, in BiMn2O5 ceramics in the range of temperatures from 10 K to 320 K are reported. The data could be explained if it is assumed that a dipole defect is formed due to an oxygen vacancy and two manganese ions which have their valence changed to accept an electron