Bio-compatible organic humidity sensor transferred to arbitrary surfaces fabricated using single-cell-thick onion membrane as both the substrate and sensing layer

Abstract

A bio-compatible disposable organic humidity sensor has been fabricated that can be transferred to any arbitrary target surface. Single cell thick onion membrane has been used as the substrate while it also doubles as the active layer of the sensor. Two different types of sensors were fabricated. In type-1, the membrane was fixed into a plastic frame with IDT patterns on one side while the other side was also exposed to environment. In type-2, onion membrane was attached to a glass substrate with one side exposed to environment having an IDT screen-printed on top of it. The electrical output response of the sensors showed their ability to detect relative humidity between 0% RH and 80% RH with stable response and good sensitivity. The impedance of the sensors changed from 16 Mω to 2 Mω for type-1 and 6 Mω to 20 Kω for type-2. The response times of type-1 and type-2 were ∼1 and 1.5 seconds respectively. The recovery times were ∼10.75 seconds and ∼11.25 seconds for type-1 and type-2 respectively. The device was successfully transferred to various randomly shaped surfaces without damaging the device.