Battery-free flexible wireless temperature sensing for food storage

Abstract

The method of monitoring food temperature during food storage needs to be improved to continuously and accurately perceive the temperature of the food in the package to ensure the quality and safety of the food during storage. This paper proposes and develops a battery-free flexible wireless temperature sensing system (BFTS) for food storage. The BFTS consists of a battery-free flexible wireless temperature sensing tag (BFTT), a wireless reader, and a personal computer (PC). The BFTT developed in this paper has good flexibility and can be placed inside the food package to realize the continuous monitoring of temperature changes. The flexible circuits of the BFTT were fabricated by laser engraving laser-induced graphene (LIG) −copper (Cu) plating film made with Cu plating on LIG. The LIG-Cu plating film has good thickness uniformity, electrical conductivity, and laser engraving processability. The antenna of BFTT has good performance. The wireless reader is connected to the PC using a data line, and the BFTT communicates wirelessly with the wireless reader using ultra-high frequency (UHF) radio frequency identification (RFID). The BFTT was realized by the wireless radio frequency (RF) as the supply power from the wireless reader. The BFTS could realize the temperature monitoring of food stored at 0℃ and −18℃, and it has the advantages of low cost, simple manufacturing process, and low energy consumption, which could be used to continuously and accurately monitor the inside temperature of the food packages. Overall, the LIG-Cu plating film developed in this paper could be used in the fabrication of flexible circuits, and the temperature monitoring inside food packages realized by the BFTS has potential applications in actual food storage.