Piezoelectric–Triboelectric Gradient Multilayers for Selective Ion Sensing

PROBLEM:
A gradient sensor can in principle separate ions by depth, with each zone favouring a different ion, but the charge generated in one zone can couple into neighbouring zones and blur the depth information. Selectivity then depends on deconvolving a composite charge signal rather than reading a single binding event. Without a zone-resolved model, a gradient sensor offers complexity without the promised discrimination.

SOLUTION:
IBM Cloud Ideas would provide a capability for modelling zone-resolved gradient sensors, linking DFT binding predictions for each graded composition to the expected piezoelectric/triboelectric contribution from that zone. The capability would store the zone model, the isotherm validation per zone, and the measured composite traces, so that a reported ion assignment can be traced to its zone evidence. It would keep deposition, drying, and regeneration energy attached to the sensor record.

EVIDENCE BASIS:
Piezoelectric/triboelectric coupling is DOCUMENTED: mechanical strain or contact generates charge and is used in nanogenerators. DFT is based on Hohenberg–Kohn 1964 and Kohn–Sham 1965, Nobel Prize 1998. Biosorption binding follows R−COOH + M2+ ⇌ R−COOM+ + H+ and is validated by batch isotherms, qe = (C0 − Ce)V/m, Langmuir and Freundlich isotherms, textbook DOCUMENTED. Source: textbook DFT and biosorption isotherm literature as summarised in the batch method.