Fast Humidity Sensors for Harsh Environment

Abstract

With the application of a recently developed deposition method called initiated chemical vapor deposition (iCVD), remarkably fast responsive hydrogel thin films in the order of a few hundred nanometers were created. When in contact with humid air, the hydrogel layer extends its thickness manifold, which can be detected. The verification of the thickness change was realized interferometrically with a laser and a white light input source in two different implementations. The setup was designed without electric components in the vicinity of the active sensor layer and is therefore applicable in harsh and explosive environment. The achieved response time for an abrupt change of the humidity τ63 ≤ 2.5 s is about three times lower compared to one of the fastest commercially available sensors on the market.