Proving the robustness of a PEDOT:PSS-based thermistor via functionalized graphene oxide–poly(vinylidene fluoride) composite encapsulation for food logistics

Abstract

The instability of poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):polystyrene sulfonate (PEDOT:PSS) under a humid condition is the major limitation in the practical development of a flexible thermistor. Here, we introduced a functionalized graphene oxide–polyvinylidene fluoride (FGO–PVDF) composite as an encapsulation layer to prove the reliability of PEDOT:PSS thermistors under high-humidity conditions. The FGO–PVDF-encapsulated thermistor exhibited good linearity, a resolution of 1272.57 Ω per °C, a temperature coefficient of resistance equal to −3.95 × 10⁻³ per °C, stable performance, and an acceptable response time (∼40 s per °C) calibrated in the temperature range between −10 °C and 30 °C, resembling the temperature of a cold chain system. For applications in a food cold chain system, this thermistor was integrated into a roll-to-roll (R2R) gravure-printed NFC antenna, a microcontroller-embedded Si-chip transponder, and a printed battery to work as a smart label to wirelessly monitor the time–temperature history (TTH) of a food package. A proof-of-concept study was demonstrated by attaching an NFC-enabled hybrid TTH logger, a smart label, in a chicken package.