Development of an Aerosol Jet Printed RFID Assisted Critical Temperature Indicator Based on Polyaniline for Intelligent Label Applications

Abstract

Temperature plays a crucial role in influencing the quality of a package, especially in the cold supply chain. By using intelligent packaging to detect the exposure to heat, the status of these products can be retrieved. Critical Temperature Indicator (CTI) and Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology are integrated to monitor and communicate the package status by combined visual and electronic detection. Hereby, this work presents the development of an intelligent label integrating a polyaniline (PANI)-based sensor and a RFID antenna, both fabricated using Aerosol Jet Printing (AJP). The label is specifically made of a CTI which changes color upon an external trigger, and an RFID antenna that allows verifying the status of the device electronically; both components are printed on a paper label toward the development of an “intelligent label”. The future applications use temperature as the triggering mechanism. The work primarily focuses on the design, fabrication, and testing of this device as a proof-of-concept. Particularly, the recipe of the own-developed PANI, the establishment of best printing strategies, and the identification of the intelligent label performance are described. By emphasizing manufacturing strategies, this work provides a foundation for scalable, printed devices tailored for smart monitoring applications.