Inkjet-printed graphene-based wireless gas sensor modules

In this paper we demonstrate the use of graphene as the basis for design and development of low-cost, self-powered, battery-less, wireless sensor solutions utilizing thin films produced from environmentally friendly, water-based, inkjet printed graphene oxide (GO) ink. The in-house developed novel sensor material demonstrates good response to ammonia gas (NH ₃), yielding a 6% normalized resistance change within 15 minutes of exposure to a concentration of 500 ppm. In addition, excellent recovery time is achieved using the RGO thin films, with over 30% of material recovery observed within 5 minutes without exposure to high temperature or any UV treatments. Finally, we present in this work important distinctive characteristics in the behavior of the RGO sensor when exposed to different types of gases, including the hard-to-detect CO gas, that can be exploited in order to further enhance the applicability of the material. The introduction of mass producible, stable, environmentally friendly, inkjet-printable GO on organic paper/kapton substrates lays the foundation for the development of a wide range of new low-cost, high performance graphene-based devices, such as inkjet-printed diodes, capacitors and transistors.