Temperature sensor realized by inkjet printing process on flexible substrate

Highlights: • Flexible temperature sensor was realized by inkjet printing process on Kapton substrate. • The jetting parameters were optimized to obtain evenly distributed silver coating layers and a large meander forming the sensor. • The Temperature sensor studied offers a good sensitivity, a good linearity and less than 5% hysteresis in extended measurement in the range of 20–60 °C. - Abstract: The objective of this study is to realize a printed and flexible temperature sensor to achieve surface temperature measurement of the human body. The sensor is a thermistor composed silver (Ag) deposited on a Polyimide substrate (Kapton HN). The meander was patterned by inkjet printing with a drop-on-demand Jetlab4 (Microfab Technologies Inc.). The resistance temperature coefficients have been studied in the temperature range of 20–60 °C with a range of voltage between 0 and 1 V. The stability versus time has also been measured without a sensor layer protection. The sensitive area of the sensor, silver lines width and the gap between the electrical conductors were, respectively 6.2 cm², 300 μm, 60 μm. The mean temperature sensor sensitivity found was 2.23 × 10⁻³ °C⁻¹. The results show a good linearity and less than 5% hysteresis in the extended measurement.