INNOVATIVE PAPER-BASED DIELECTRIC MATERIALS FOR IMPROVED FOOD PACKAGING SECURITY

The overall goal of the proposed project is to "create an in-situ dielectric material for capacitive pressure sensors in paper packaging using nano material fillers". Development of such a material will ultimately lead to real-time monitoring of mechanical damage to packaged food during storage and transportation, leading to a reduction in food wastage due to ill-handling of goods. The supporting objectives for this work are:Develop experimental methods to impregnate three possible dielectric composite fillers into paper matrices: nano iron oxide (nano-Fe2O3), graphene (G), and graphene oxide (GO);Measure the impact of nano material fillers on paper dielectric permittivity and dielectric loss as well as the ability of these dielectric composites to register capacitive changes in response to a broad range of mechanical impacts;Explore impacts of humidity and temperature changes on the resulting dielectric material.Should the above objectives be successfully met during the two-year period of seed-grant support, a longer-term project will be planned with anticipated support from funding agencies such as USDA-NIFA, NSF, US Department of Transportation (USDoT) and EPSCoR-based grants. The following will be likely objectives for a longer-term project:Incorporate paper dielectric composites into a full sensor device to include thin/deformable electrodes and wireless data transmission.Measure sensing ability of dielectric composites as a function of temperature and ambient humidity under applied pressure.Prepare impregnated paper on larger scale for packaging applications.