Cellulose Fibers Enable Near-Zero-Cost Electrical Sensing of Water-Soluble Gases

Year: 2019

Authors: Barandun G., Soprani M., Naficy S., Grell M., Kasimatis M., Chiu K. L., Ponzoni A., Güder F.

Autors Affiliation: Department of Bioengineering, Imperial College London SW7 2AZ, London, United Kingdom -Department of Information Engineering University of Brescia 25123, Brescia, Italy; National Institute of Optics National Research Council 25123, Brescia, Italy; School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering The University of Sydney NSW 2006, Sydney, Australia

Abstract: We report an entirely new class of printed electrical gas sensors that are produced at near “zero cost”. This technology exploits the intrinsic hygroscopic properties of cellulose fibers within paper; although it feels and looks dry, paper contains substantial amount of moisture, adsorbed from the environment, enabling the use of wet chemical methods for sensing without manually adding water to the substrate. The sensors exhibit high sensitivity to water-soluble gases (e.g., lower limit of detection for NH3 < 200 parts-per-billion) with a fast and reversible response. The sensors show comparable or better performance (especially at high relative humidity) than most commercial ammonia sensors at a fraction of their price (<$0.02 per sensor). We demonstrate that the sensors proposed can be integrated into food packaging to monitor freshness (to reduce food waste and plastic pollution) or implemented into near-field-communication tags to function as wireless, battery-less gas sensors that can be interrogated with smartphones. Journal/Review: ACS SENSORS

Volume: 4 (6)      Pages from: 1662  to: 1669

More Information: Financial support through EPSRC (No. EP/R010242/1) and EPSRC DTP (Reference No. 1846144) is acknolwedged.
KeyWords: Sensors, cellulose paper, waste prevention, food quality, RFID tags
DOI: 10.1021/acssensors.9b00555

Citations: 89
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