Aerosol Jet Printing of High-Temperature Multimodal Sensors for Strain and Temperature Sensing

Abstract: Integrating multiple sensing capabilities into a single multimodal sensor greatly enhances its applications for in-situ sensing and structural health monitoring. However, the fabrication of multimodal sensors is complicated and limited by the available materials and existing manufacturing methods that often involve complex and expensive fabrication processes. In this study, a high-temperature multimodal sensor is demonstrated by aerosol jet printing of gold and ITO nanoparticle inks. The printed multimodal sensor for concurrent strain and temperature sensing possesses a high gauge factor of 2.54 and thermopower of 55.64 V/{\deg}C combined with excellent high-temperature thermal stability up to 540 {\deg}C. Compared to traditional single-modality sensors, the printed multimodal sensor significantly increases sensing capacity and improves spatial resolution using microscale printed patterns. The study also demonstrates that the strain sensor with integrated thermocouple enables in-situ compensation of the temperature effect on strain sensing, significantly improving strain measurement accuracy at high temperatures. By combining aerosol jet printing with nanomaterial inks, a wide range of multifunctional devices can be developed for a broad range of emerging applications.