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A “lab‐to‐fab” transition is described that enables the semiautomated production of thin‐film potentiometric pH electrodes, designed for use in sterile single‐use bioreactors. Manual methods of materials deposition and film casting are replaced with spray coating on a moving web and the production of membranes with a programmable dispenser operating at constant rates. These provide a greater degree of control over membrane thickness and a reduction in voltage spread between electrodes, which are evaluated in batches using a multichannel analyzer. γ‐ray ionization of the pH electrodes introduces a predictable voltage drift that follows a log decay function on the day timescale; the voltage decay rate correlates with membrane thickness and can be modeled as a parallel diode–capacitor circuit. Batches of radiation‐sterilized pH electrodes are tested in cell culture media and yield mean pH values within 0.05 units relative to a commercial meter (ground truth) following a single‐point calibration protocol. Quantitative uncertainty analysis attributes more than half of total error to variations caused by ionizing radiation and yields novel insights into strategies for reducing uncertainty. 

ABSTRACT Composite nanostructured foams consisting of a metallic shell deposited on a polymeric core were formed by plating copper via electroless deposition on electrospun polycaprolactone (PCL) fiber mats. The final structure consisted of 1000-nm scale PCL fibers coated with 100s of nm of copper, leading to final core-shell thicknesses on the order of 1000-3000 nm. The resulting open cell, core-shell foams had relative densities between 4 and 15 %. By controlling the composition of the adjuncts in the plating bath, particularly the composition of formaldehyde, the relative thickness of copper coating as the fiber diameter could be controlled. As-spun PCL mats had a nominal compressive modulus on the order of 0.1 MPa; adding a uniform metallic shell increased the modulus up to 2 MPa for sub-10 % relative density foams. A computational materials science analysis using density functional theory was used to explore the effects pre-treatment with Pd may have on the density of nuclei formed during electroless plating.