Ernesto Torreblanca
Automated Humidity Control System
My current research project is assisting with the construction of an automated humidity control system with the use of Arduino. This project will assist in answering our research question: How does water affect the electronic properties of mixed conducting polymers? We will address this question with doped polymers in varying degrees of water uptake. For this reason, one of the most vital factors we must consider is the amount of water uptake or humidity that the polymers are exposed to. Currently, there is a manual method in place to reach the desired percent humidity, however, it is often time-consuming and inefficient. With the implementation of an automated system using a PID controller, we will resolve this problem and more efficiently work towards observing the effects that water has on polymers in various degrees of humidity. Current observations in literature have shown that increasing humidity is often accompanied by increased ionic mobility and decreased electronic mobility, however, our goal will be to understand why this is the case. Although we know the extremes of this behavior, we believe that fully understanding why this behavior occurs will be vital for many real-world applications.