A Metal-Insulator-Metal Humidity Sensor Using Albumin-WO3 Composites for Enhanced Responses

The growing demand for precise healthcare monitoring has fueled advancements in humidity sensor technology, crucial for applications in meteorology, environmental monitoring, industrial control, agriculture, and biomedical devices. In the biomedical realm, humidity sensors play a vital role in point-of-care testing (POCT) devices for detecting respiratory conditions such as bronchitis, asthma, and pneumonia. This study presents a two-terminal metal-insulator-metal (MIM) device utilizing a composite of chicken egg albumin and tungsten trioxide (WO3) as the active hygroscopic film, with aluminium and copper as the bottom and top electrodes, respectively. Albumin, a biocompatible and hydrophilic protein, efficiently absorbs moisture, while WO3 nanoparticles, known for their excellent electrical conductivity, enhance the device's sensitivity to humidity changes. Experimental results demonstrate that increasing the WO3 content in the composite film from 0% to 50% significantly improves the sensor's performance. Specifically, the maximum current response to humidity increased up to 15 times for pure albumin, 17.3 times for the albumin–WO3 (25%) nanocomposite, and 21 times for the albumin–WO3 (50%) nanocomposite as the relative humidity (RH) varied from 20% to 95%. This work highlights the potential of albumin–WO3 composites for diverse applications in environmental monitoring, healthcare, and industrial processes.