Inkjet-printed Gas Sensor Matrix with Molecularly Imprinted Gas Selective Materials

This paper introduces a new method to fabricate a large - scale sensor array. By printing electrodes on photographic paper and making insulating layers, 6×6 arrays of sensors were obtained. Different gas selective can be printed in different units to detect different gases. Thus, production of multiple sensors in a small area with low cost was realized. On a piece of A4 photo paper, 30 sensor matrices can be printed at the same time. Each sensor array has 36 sensing units, thus theoretically identifying up to 36 gases. The sensor is suitable to be used in wearable devices to identify human skin gases due to its flexible substrate, low production cost and simple manufacturing process. In this experiment, molecular imprinted polymer (MIP) solution [1], carbon black (C.B.) conductive solution and insulating solution are prepared as ink, which can be used for ink-jet printer printing. This makes the method of developing the sensor more flexible. Compared with the sensor developed by micropipette to drop the MIP solution and C.B. conductive solution, the sensor developed by a printer has better uniformity.