Cellulose fibers enable near zero-cost electrical sensing of water-soluble gases
File(s)acssensors.9b00555.pdf (3.42 MB)
Published version
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
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., 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.
Date Issued
2019-06-28
Date Acceptance
2019-05-08
Citation
ACS Sensors, 2019, 4 (6), pp.1662-1669
ISSN
2379-3694
Publisher
American Chemical Society
Start Page
1662
End Page
1669
Journal / Book Title
ACS Sensors
Volume
4
Issue
6
Copyright Statement
© 2019 American Chemical Society. This is an open access article published under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) License (http://pubs.acs.org/page/policy/authorchoice_ccby_termsofuse.html), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the author and source are cited.
License URL
Sponsor
Engineering & Physical Science Research Council (EPSRC)
Identifier
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31066550
Grant Number
EP/R010242/1
Subjects
Science & Technology
Physical Sciences
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Chemistry, Analytical
Nanoscience & Nanotechnology
Chemistry
Science & Technology - Other Topics
Sensors
cellulose paper
waste prevention
food quality
RFID tags
TIME-TEMPERATURE INTEGRATORS
FISH
AMMONIA
QUALITY
FOOD
SPOILAGE
INDEX
PH
RFID tags
Sensors
cellulose paper
food quality
waste prevention
Animals
Carbon
Cellulose
Chickens
Electrochemical Techniques
Electrodes
Fishes
Food Packaging
Food Preservation
Gases
Limit of Detection
Meat
Methylamines
Paper
Solubility
Water
Animals
Chickens
Fishes
Carbon
Gases
Water
Methylamines
Cellulose
Electrodes
Solubility
Paper
Food Packaging
Food Preservation
Meat
Electrochemical Techniques
Limit of Detection
0301 Analytical Chemistry
0903 Biomedical Engineering
1007 Nanotechnology
Publication Status
Published
Coverage Spatial
United States
Date Publish Online
2019-05-08