Photosensitive chipless radio-frequency tag for low-cost monitoring of light-sensitive goods

•We present a novel chipless RF tag endowed with light-sensitive capability.•The tag comprises a commercial high-frequency antenna and a light sensor.•Light sensing is enabled by the irreversible impedance change of an acrylamide-based photopolymer.•Wireless interrogation reveals a 540kHz shift of t...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Sensors and actuators. B, Chemical Chemical, 2016-02, Vol.223, p.839-845
Main Authors: Oliveros, M., Carminati, M., Zanutta, A., Mattila, T., Jussila, S., Nummila, K., Bianco, A., Lanzani, G., Caironi, M.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Detectors
Exposure
High frequencies
Light exposure detector
Manufacturing engineering
Photopolymer
Photosensitivity
Polymerization
Resonators
RFID
Sensor chipless tag
Sensors
Wireless sensor
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Summary:•We present a novel chipless RF tag endowed with light-sensitive capability.•The tag comprises a commercial high-frequency antenna and a light sensor.•Light sensing is enabled by the irreversible impedance change of an acrylamide-based photopolymer.•Wireless interrogation reveals a 540kHz shift of the resonance frequency upon 1min light exposure.•Such wireless sensor may enable low-cost and massive tagging of light-sensitive goods. A simple approach to develop a novel photosensitive radio-frequency (RF) tag to be used as non-volatile wireless light exposure detector is presented. This chipless tag is based on the coupling of a standard high frequency (HF) inductor–capacitor (LC) resonator with an interdigitated planar sensor featuring a micrometric inter-electrode gap optimized for a thin acrylamide photosensitive polymer layer. Exposure to ambient light within the absorbance band of the photosensitizer (∼530nm) triggers polymerization, which irreversibly modifies the electrical properties of the film, producing a significant decrease of the dielectric constant of 27%, thereby changing the resonance frequency (540kHz shift) of the resonator. This allows the straightforward wireless detection of the light exposure event as demonstrated here. The sensor fabrication is fully compatible with high-throughput printing processes, therefore fostering a dramatic reduction of tag production costs and enabling mass application of disposable tags that can, for instance, be embedded into the packaging of light-sensitive goods.
ISSN:0925-4005
1873-3077
DOI:10.1016/j.snb.2015.09.144