Inkjet-printed thin-film sensors for measuring automotive relevant wide application-oriented temperature ranges

Within this research we demonstrate the development of a novel silver-based all inkjet-printed temperature sensor, that is able to detect temperature over a wide range from −30 °C to + 60 °C, with a high degree of effectiveness. A silver nanoparticle-based ink was selectively implemented in combination with a set of tuned deposition parameters (printing and intermediate treatments), leading to a seamless development of sensors. Herein, the presented sensors can be developed on both, plastic films and directly on automotive standard constructional components. The sensitivity of these kind of novel sensors were found to be in range of 0.3 Ω/°C to 2.1 Ω/°C, depending on the implemented meander pattern geometry, which can be fully tunable and adaptable to the end application. Besides the illustration of the sensor performance with relation to sensor geometry i.e. meander line width, thickness and length, the operational stability of the temperature sensors was also validated over more than 60 h. The sensors show linear characteristics with extremely high repeatability and operational stability. Due to these technical characteristics as well as provided long time stability, these temperature sensors are highly qualified in automotive specified applications with a direct deposition on the mechanical component as well.