TY - JOUR
T1 - Large-area all-printed temperature sensing surfaces using novel composite thermistor materials
AU - Katerinopoulou, Dimitra
AU - Zalar, Peter
AU - Sweelssen, Jorgen
AU - Kiriakidis, George
AU - Rentrop, Corné
AU - Groen, Pim
AU - Gelinck, Gerwin H.
AU - van den Brand, Jeroen
AU - Smits, Edsger C.P.
PY - 2019/2/1
Y1 - 2019/2/1
N2 - Surfaces which can accurately distinguish spatial and temporal changes in temperature are critical for not only flow sensors, microbolometers, process control, but also future applications like electronic skins and soft robotics. Realizing such surfaces requires the deposition of thousands of thermal sensors over large areas, a task ideally suited for printing technologies. Negative temperature coefficient (NTC) ceramics represent the industry standard in temperature sensing due to their high thermal coefficient and excellent stability. A drawback is their complex and high temperature fabrication process and high stiffness, prohibiting their monolithic integration in large area or flexible applications. As a remedy, a printable NTC composite that combines a rapid and scalable all-printed fabrication process with performances that are on par with conventional NTC ceramics is demonstrated. The composite consists of micrometer-sized manganese spinel oxide particles dispersed in a benzocyclobutene matrix. The sensor has a B coefficient of 3500 K, with a 4.0% change in resistance at 25 °C, comparable to bulk ceramics. The selected polymer binder yields a composite exhibiting less than a 1 °C change in resistance to changes in humidity. The sensor's scalability is validated by demonstration of a A4-sized temperature sensing sheet consisting of over 400 sensors.
AB - Surfaces which can accurately distinguish spatial and temporal changes in temperature are critical for not only flow sensors, microbolometers, process control, but also future applications like electronic skins and soft robotics. Realizing such surfaces requires the deposition of thousands of thermal sensors over large areas, a task ideally suited for printing technologies. Negative temperature coefficient (NTC) ceramics represent the industry standard in temperature sensing due to their high thermal coefficient and excellent stability. A drawback is their complex and high temperature fabrication process and high stiffness, prohibiting their monolithic integration in large area or flexible applications. As a remedy, a printable NTC composite that combines a rapid and scalable all-printed fabrication process with performances that are on par with conventional NTC ceramics is demonstrated. The composite consists of micrometer-sized manganese spinel oxide particles dispersed in a benzocyclobutene matrix. The sensor has a B coefficient of 3500 K, with a 4.0% change in resistance at 25 °C, comparable to bulk ceramics. The selected polymer binder yields a composite exhibiting less than a 1 °C change in resistance to changes in humidity. The sensor's scalability is validated by demonstration of a A4-sized temperature sensing sheet consisting of over 400 sensors.
KW - ceramics
KW - organic–inorganic composites
KW - printed electronics
KW - temperature sensors
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85057964351&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1002/aelm.201800605
DO - 10.1002/aelm.201800605
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85057964351
VL - 5
JO - Advanced Electronic Materials
JF - Advanced Electronic Materials
SN - 2199-160X
IS - 2
M1 - 1800605
ER -