Data capture lies at the heart of the scientific method. Sensors are needed to feed the cycle of hypothesis generation and validation, and it is desirable to broaden their detection range, signal quality, and operational environments. Demand for sensors that can be integrated into personal wearables and industrial monitoring has scaled exponentially. For ubiquitous real-time monitoring, single-use sensors optimized for size, weight, power consumption, and cost (SWAP-C) compatibility are of great interest. Sensors that meet this profile and can be manufactured with biodegradable materials using scalable techniques like roll-to-roll printing represent the next generation of this technology.

 

This report will focus on three developments toward SWAP-C sensors. The first section outlines the continuing development of radiation-tolerant, thin-film electrodes for potentiometric sensing. The second section describes the manufacture of gold microelectrodes on Kapton with a process innovation that promises a significant reduction in material waste. The third section describes efforts to develop green, closed-loop biodegradable sensors using Laser Induced Graphitization (LIG) of cellulose nanofiber (CNF)-reinforced bioplastic substrates.