Development of pressure sensitive molecular film applicable to pressure measurement for high Knudsen number flows

Experimental analyses of thermo-fluid phenomena of micro- and nano-flows with high Knudsen number need the measurement techniques based on interaction of atoms or molecules with photons. The pressure-sensitive paint (PSP) technique has potential as a diagnostic tool for pressure measurement in the high Knudsen number regime because it works as a so-called “molecular sensor”. However, application of PSP to micro devices is very difficult because the conventional PSP is too thick owing to the use of polymer binder and does not have sufficient spatial resolution for pressure measurement of micro-flows. In this study, we have adopted the Langmuir-Blodgett (LB) technique to fabricate pressure sensitive molecular films (PSMFs) using Pd(II) Octaethylporphine (PdOEP) and Pd(II) Mesoporphyrin IX (PdMP) to resolve ordinary PSPs problems, and have tested these PSMFs to evaluate the feasibility of the pressure measurement around micro-devices. It is clarified that the PSMF composed of PdMP has higher sensitivity than that of PdOEP. Since it is also considered that the sensitivity of PSMFs can be increased by introducing arachidic acid (AA) as spacer molecules of LB films to prevent the aggregation of luminescent molecules, we have produced PSMFs with several molar ratio of PdMP to AA. At the most suitable ratio, the PSMF has high sensitivity in the low pressure region with high Knudsen number, even if the amount of the luminescent molecules in the PSMF layer is smaller than that in conventional PSPs. This result indicates that the PSMF is feasible to measure the pressure in high Knudsen number flows such as micro-flows.