SnO₂-Based Ultra-Flexible Humidity/Respiratory Sensor for Analysis of Human Breath

Abstract

Developing ultraflexible sensors using metal oxides is challenging due to the high-temperature annealing step in the fabrication process. Here, we demonstrate the ultraflexible relative humidity (RH) sensor on food plastic wrap by using 808 nm near-infrared (NIR) laser annealing for 1 min at a low temperature (26.2–40.8 °C). The wettability of plastic wraps coated with sol-gel solution is modulated to obtain uniform films. The surface morphology, local temperature, and electrical properties of the SnO2 resistor under NIR laser irradiation with a power of 16, 33, and 84 W/cm2 are investigated. The optimal device can detect wide-range RH from 15% to 70% with small incremental changes (0.1–2.2%). X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy reveals the relation between the surface binding condition and sensing response. Finally, the proposed sensor is attached onto the face mask to analyze the real-time human breath pattern in slow, normal, and fast modes, showing potential in wearable electronics or respiration monitoring.

Keywords

• SnO₂
• plastic wrap
• NIR annealing
• humidity sensor
• breath analysis