Soft, Wirelessly Powered Humidity Sensor Based on SnO2 Nanowires for Wireless/Wearable Sensor Application

Abstract

Humidity, along with temperature, is one of the most important environmental variables in people’s lives. The control of humidity is an important matter that is related to material properties and stability in various industries, as well as basic living. In order to detect humidity, changes in the physical, chemical, and electrical properties of materials related to humidity are used, and studies using various methods are conducted. In this study, a field-effect transistor (FET) device was fabricated on a soft polymer substrate with SnO2 nanowires (NWs), whose electrical properties change in response to water molecules. The SnO2 NWs, synthesized by chemical vapor deposition (CVD), were transferred onto a polymer substrate, using a sliding transfer method. The NW FET device, which was connected to an aluminum (Al)-based radio frequency (RF) receiving antenna, was wirelessly operated as a humidity sensor, based on the change in electrical properties of SnO2 NWs according to the relative humidity (RH). It was configured with a wireless antenna and light emitting diode (LED) indicator to implement a soft wirelessly powered humidity sensor that senses high RH and is expected to be used as a wearable electronic/sensor in the future.