AUTHOR=Falco Aniello , Marín-Sánchez Antonio , Loghin Florin C. , Castillo Encarnación , Salinas-Castillo Alfonso , Salmerón José F. , Rivadeneyra Almudena TITLE=Paper and Salt: Biodegradable NaCl-Based Humidity Sensors for Sustainable Electronics JOURNAL=Frontiers in Electronics VOLUME=3 YEAR=2022 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/electronics/articles/10.3389/felec.2022.838472 DOI=10.3389/felec.2022.838472 ISSN=2673-5857 ABSTRACT=

Flexible and thin-film humidity sensors are currently attracting the attention of the scientific community due to their portability and reduced size, which are highly useful traits for use in the Internet o Things (IoT) industry. Furthermore, in order to perform efficient and profitable mass production, it is necessary to develop a cost-effective and reproducible fabrication process and materials. Green fabrication methods and biodegradable materials would also minimize the environmental impact and create a sustainable IoT development. In this paper, flexible humidity sensors based on a common salt (NaCl) sensing layer are reported. Our sensors and the fabrication techniques employed, such as dip and spray coating, provide a biodegradable, low cost, and highly reproducible device. One of the sensors reported presents a typical resistive behaviour from 40% RH up to 85% RH with a sensitivity of −0.21 (Z/%RH). The performance of the sensors obtained with several fabrication techniques is studied and reported at multiple frequencies from 100 Hz to 10 MHz, showcasing its versatility and robustness.