Abstract
The present work describes the inkjet printing and low temperature sintering of silver nanoparticle inks onto transfer tattoo paper. Our approach results in silver features of excellent resolution and conductivity and, subsequently the first passive UHF RFID transfer tattoo tags functional mounted on human skin of improved performance when compared to screen printed passive UHF RFID transfer tattoo paper tags. Moreover, inkjet printed passive UHF RFID transfer tattoo tags show similar performance to copper etched passive UHF RFID tags on plastic substrates. This study compares the image quality (resolution) and electrical performance of two commercial silver nanoparticle inks inkjet printed on transfer tattoo paper. The optimal printing and sintering parameters to obtain high resolution features of resistivities 20 to 57 times the resistivity of bulk silver (1.59 × 10−6 ohm cm) are described. We demonstrate how, by selectively depositing ink in specific areas of the antenna, read distance of passive UHF RFID tags can be increased from 54 to 68 cm whilst decreasing the amount of ink used by 33%. Furthermore, this approach results in inkjet printed passive UHF RFID tattoo tags with larger read distance than silver screen printed passive UHF RFID tattoo tags, 45 cm, and similar to copper etched passive UHF RFID plastic tags, 75 cm. Moreover, inkjet printed passive UHF RFID tattoo tags in this work are considerably thinner (1–5 μm) than screen and etched passive UHF RFID tags (tens of micrometers) hence, making the former more appealing to the end user. In addition to this, inkjet printing is compatible with large area manufacturing techniques and has the potential to evolve as one of the most promising RFID mass-production techniques. Therefore, this work represents a step towards the commercialization of on-body transfer tattoo paper passive UHF RFID tags.
Highlights
The use of passive RFID tags in asset management is well documented and its use in monitoring, identifying and tracking people in work environments such as power plants, airports, hospitals, military bases, re neries and access restricted areas is emerging.[1,2,3,4,5] Current human tagging and monitoring technology, external to the body, typically requires bulky wrist bands or ID badges which can be transferred among users compromising security related application
We introduce an investigation to determine the feasibility of obtaining low-cost thin passive ultrahigh frequencies (UHF) RFID transfer tattoo tags by combining inkjet printable low temperature thermal sintering silver precursor inks on tattoo paper
In this process the UHF RFID tag is sandwiched between two layers of polymeric nature originating from the tattoo paper
Summary
Recent work in the area of electronic skin includes work from Dae-Hyeong Kim et al.[8] demonstrating the possibility to attach high-performance electronic functionalities to the surface of the skin. A number of challenges need to be addressed if inkjet printing for UHF RFID applications is to become a reality Chief amongst these is achieving high conductivity on a porous, rough and temperature sensitive tattoo substrate with high image quality. We introduce an investigation to determine the feasibility of obtaining low-cost thin passive UHF RFID transfer tattoo tags by combining inkjet printable low temperature thermal sintering silver precursor inks on tattoo paper. In this process the UHF RFID tag is sandwiched between two layers of polymeric nature originating from the tattoo paper. There is no direct contact between the silver tag and the body upon transfer onto the body
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
