JPH0311661B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

The present invention relates to a humidity-sensitive resistor that detects changes in atmospheric humidity as changes in resistance. It has been known that resins in which conductive powder is dispersed exhibit resistance changes based on changes in atmospheric humidity. Attempts have also been made to utilize such characteristics in humidity sensing elements. However, as the conductive particles in the resin move each time the humidity detection history is repeated, there are problems with response, reproducibility, and hysteresis. In order to overcome these difficulties, attempts have been made to crosslink the resin with an organic compound crosslinking agent to eliminate the movement of conductive particles in the resin. By applying such measures, the strength of the resin film is increased and the movement of the conductive particles is suppressed, but there is a problem that the water wettability deteriorates and the humidity detection ability decreases. Therefore, the present invention was made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and its purpose is to provide a humidity-sensitive resistor having excellent sensitivity to humidity, excellent responsiveness, hysteresis, etc. do. That is, in the humidity-sensitive resistor according to the present invention, a humidity-sensitive resistor film is provided on the counter electrode, and the resistance value increases as the relative humidity increases. It consists of a hydrophilic polymer containing any of yttrium, lanthanum, or cerium ions and a conductive powder, and the hydrophilic polymer is a polyvinyl alcohol polymer, a polyvinyl alcohol polymer and a cellulose derivative polymer, or a polymethyl acrylate. It is characterized by comprising at least one type selected from saponified esters and saponified polyethyl acrylates. A moisture-sensitive resistor having such a structure has excellent reversibility of swelling and contraction of the resin during moisture absorption and dehumidification.
Furthermore, when moisture is absorbed, electrical contact between the conductive particles is broken due to swelling of the resin, resulting in a change in resistance increase. The feature of this invention is that a moisture-sensitive resistance film containing a hydrophilic polymer and a conductive powder contains yttrium, lanthanum, or cerium ions, and these ions are distributed unevenly in the surface layer or are contained throughout the film. By generating an intramolecular chelate, the polymer chains are crimped to ensure mutual contact between the conductive particles, and the swelling of the hydrophilic polymer upon adsorption of water is increased, resulting in a change in resistance increase. This is due to the fact that it has been made larger. The above-mentioned intramolecular chelate is generated by immersing the film constituting the moisture-sensitive resistance film, that is, the film made of a hydrophilic polymer containing each of the metal ions mentioned above and a conductive powder, in an alkaline solution or contacting it with alkaline vapor. This is then carried out by washing with water, drying and heating, or by heating the film at a temperature of 100° C. or higher to a temperature at which the hydrophilic polymer does not decompose. At this time, chelate formation occurs between the hydrophilic group (OH group) of the hydrophilic polymer's glycol bond and the metal ion, and the surface of the moisture-sensitive resistance film becomes strong and hydrophobic, and has stable characteristics.
This results in a highly reliable moisture-sensitive resistor. In other words, the hydrophilicity of the surface of the moisture-sensitive resistance film decreases,
As a result of its increased hydrophobicity, it does not dissolve even in the presence of water, resulting in a structure that is stable against water. Generally, in the case of a moisture-sensitive resistor containing a hydrophilic polymer, it is known to use an organic crosslinking agent that crosslinks in the presence of a catalyst. When such a crosslinking agent is used, not only the hydrophobicity of the hydrophilic polymer membrane is significantly strengthened, but also the hydrophilic polymer membrane is hardened and the swelling of the polymer membrane due to moisture absorption is reduced. On the other hand, when an intramolecular chelate is generated in a moisture-sensitive resistance film as in this invention, crystallization does not proceed and the molecular chain does not become long, and the OH group, which is a hydrophilic group in a hydrophilic polymer, is completely dehydrated. Since some of the molecules remain as ligands without being absorbed, the degree of swelling due to moisture absorption increases.
Large resistance increase changes can be achieved. The conductive particles constituting a part of the moisture-sensitive resistive film, which is a feature of the present invention, include carbon, for example, but other compound conductors, metals, and the like may also be used. The particle size of the conductive particles is preferably 10 μm or less in order to obtain good response performance. Examples of hydrophilic polymers include polyvinyl alcohol polymers, polyvinyl alcohol polymers and cellulose derivative polymers, saponified polymethyl acrylates, and saponified polyethyl acrylates. In the above configuration, the polyvinyl alcohol polymers include the following. Products obtained by completely saponifying or partially saponifying polymers of vinyl acetate, other vinyl esters, and copolymers thereof. A copolymer made by copolymerizing vinyl acetate, other vinyl esters, and various unsaturated monomers, such as α-olefins, vinyl chloride, acrylonitrile, acrylamide, acrylic esters, and methacrylic esters. monster. Polyvinyl alcohol copolymers esterified with cyclic acid anhydrides of such polyvinyl alcohol polymers and carboxyl group-modified polyvinyl alcohol polymers. Further, metal ions include, for example, salts such as oxychlorides, chlorides, acetates, sulfates, and nitrates, and water-soluble and alcohol-soluble ones are used. The blending ratio of the hydrophilic polymer and the conductive powder constituting the humidity-sensitive resistive film, which has a characteristic that the resistance value increases as the relative humidity increases, is selected within the following range. That is, the hydrophilic polymer content is 20-80% by weight, and the conductive powder content is 20-80% by weight. Here, add 20% hydrophilic polymer.
~80% by weight, and the conductive powder was set at 20 to 80% by weight because the hydrophilic polymer was less than 20% by weight and the conductive powder was less than 20% by weight.
If it exceeds 80% by weight, the resistance change due to moisture absorption will be small, and if the hydrophilic polymer exceeds 80% by weight and the conductive powder is less than 20% by weight, the resistance value of the moisture-sensitive resistor itself will increase. This is because it is not suitable for practical use. Regarding the concentration of metal ions,
100 mol% or less based on the hydrophilic group of the hydrophilic polymer,
Preferably 60 mol% is desirable. The hydrophilic groups of hydrophilic polymers form intramolecular chelates with metal ions, but half of the hydrophilic groups are coordinated as chelate ligands, so even if the chelation rate is high, swelling due to moisture adhesion is extremely high. It doesn't get smaller. The present invention will be described in detail below based on examples. Example 1 Polyvinyl alcohol was dissolved in alcohol and ethylene glycol monobutyl ether. Add an equal amount of carbon black powder with an average particle size of 30 mμ to 100 parts by weight of this polyvinyl alcohol,
A paste was made by kneading. On the other hand, an insulating substrate having comb-shaped carbon electrodes on its surface with an electrode spacing of 0.3 mm and a total electrode facing length of 6.5 cm was prepared, and a paste was applied onto this insulating substrate by a coating means so as to cover the carbon electrodes. Next, this insulating substrate was immersed in a 10% alcohol aqueous solution of each metal ion shown in Table 1.
After being pulled up, the coating film was dried to contain a metal salt. Furthermore, the insulating substrate was immersed in an alkaline solution to form an intramolecular chelate with polyvinyl alcohol and metal ions. Afterwards, it was washed with water and dried. Next, heat treatment was performed at 170°C to obtain each sample.

[Table] Regarding the obtained humidity-sensitive resistor, the change in resistance value due to relative humidity was measured, and the results shown in FIG. 1 were obtained. The numbers in the figure are sample numbers. FIG. 2 shows an example outside the scope of this invention (reference example) that does not contain metal ions. As shown in FIG. 1, it can be seen that the device according to the present invention has a characteristic of a large resistance change rate in a high humidity region and has a small hysteresis. On the other hand, as shown in Figure 2, if metal ions are not included, the maximum value is seen in the resistance-relative humidity characteristic curve near 90% relative humidity, the hysteresis is large, and the initial resistance value (at relative humidity of 0%) is observed. The drawback is that the resistance value is high, making it unsuitable for practical use. Example 2 Regarding sample No. 3 of Example 1, a paste film containing cerium ions was provided on an insulating substrate in the same manner as in Example 1, and this was heat-treated at 170°C without being immersed in an alkaline solution. A moisture-sensitive resistor was obtained by reacting polyvinyl alcohol with cerium ions. When the resistance-relative humidity characteristics of this humidity-sensitive resistor were measured, the results shown in FIG. 3 were obtained. (Number 1 in the figure) As is clear from this figure 3, the resistance value at the time of dew condensation is 0.7MΩ, and the relative humidity
The ratio of increase in resistance value during dew condensation to the resistance value at 60% (resistance increase ratio due to dew condensation) also showed a large characteristic of 212, resulting in a moisture-sensitive resistor with large resistance changes in high humidity regions. Example 3 For each humidity-sensitive resistor obtained in Example 1, the resistance value during dew condensation and the increase ratio of the resistance value during dew condensation to the resistance value at 60% relative humidity (resistance increase ratio due to dew condensation) were measured. The results are shown in Table 2. As is clear from Table 2, the resistance change ratio due to dew condensation is large. Furthermore, it was confirmed that stable characteristics were exhibited even when the dry state and dew condensation state were repeated.

[Table] Example 4 As hydrophilic polymers, 35% acrylic modified polyvinyl alcohol and polyvinyl alcohol 70
A paste was prepared in the same manner as in Example 1 using 30 parts by weight of ethyl cellulose. This paste was applied onto the insulating substrate prepared in Example 1 using a coating means. Next, this insulating substrate was immersed in a 10% alcohol aqueous solution containing 2% cerium acetate, pulled up, and dried to make the coating film contain cerium. Further, the insulating substrate was immersed in an alkaline solution to react, and then washed with water and dried. Subsequently, heating was performed at a temperature of 170°C to obtain a sample. When the resistance value of the obtained humidity-sensitive resistor was measured for changes in relative humidity, the results shown in FIG. 3 were obtained. In the figure, 2 is an example in which 35% acrylic modified polyvinyl alcohol was used as the hydrophilic polymer, and 3 is an example in which 70 parts by weight of polyvinyl alcohol and 30 parts by weight of ethyl cellulose were used as the hydrophilic polymer. Furthermore, the resistance value during dew condensation was 1.0 MΩ for the former and 0.6 MΩ for the latter, and both had large changes in electrical resistance. As described above, in the humidity-sensitive resistor according to the present invention, the humidity-sensitive resistive film is composed of a hydrophilic polymer containing any one of yttrium, lanthanum, and cerium and a conductive powder. It is composed of an intramolecular chelate formed with ions by reaction with an alkaline solution or heat treatment, and it increases the film strength without reducing the water wettability of the moisture-sensitive resistance film. In addition to having good moisture sensitivity characteristics, the hysteresis of the moisture sensitivity characteristics is also small. Also,
The intramolecular chelate between a hydrophilic polymer and each metal ion introduces the metal ion into the polymer by bonding with oxygen, which improves the thermal conductivity of the polymer and enhances its moisture-sensing function. Therefore, it is possible to construct something with excellent responsiveness. Furthermore, when treated with an alkaline solution, the reaction can be carried out at room temperature, and a moisture-sensitive resistor with excellent properties can be obtained with simple operations.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIGS. 1 to 3 are diagrams showing resistance-relative humidity characteristics.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A moisture-sensitive resistive film is provided on the counter electrode,
In a humidity-sensitive resistor whose resistance value increases with an increase in relative humidity, the humidity-sensitive resistive film is made of a hydrophilic polymer containing any one of yttrium, lanthanum, and cerium ions and a conductive powder, and the hydrophilic Moisture sensitive, characterized in that the polymer is made of at least one selected from polyvinyl alcohol polymers, polyvinyl alcohol polymers and cellulose derivative polymers, saponified polyacrylic acid methyl esters, and polyacrylic acid ethyl saponified materials. resistor. 2 The proportions of the hydrophilic polymer and conductive powder that make up the moisture-sensitive resistance film are 20 to 80% by weight and 80 to 20% by weight, respectively.
The moisture-sensitive resistor according to claim 1, comprising the range of: