Scalable gas sensors fabrication to integrate metal oxide nanoparticles with well-defined shape and size

•Facile and scalable nanoparticle production.•Use of inkjet printing to deposit monolayers of nanoparticles.•Synthesis of Cu2O nanospheres with small polydispersity index.•Gas sensitive response of p-type semiconducting CuO nanoparticles.

In this contribution, we propose and demonstrate a scalable and reproducible process to fabricate nano-sized functional particles and integrate them in microelectromechanical systems. We use a wet-chemistry approach for nanoparticle synthesis in combination with inkjet printing as a production process for metal oxide based gas sensors. This method enables control over size and shape of the nanoparticles as well as an ordered and reproducible deposition of a monolayer of particles onto arbitrary microstructures. Here we present results obtained using copper oxide nanoparticles as well as their synthesis and material characterization. A total of 14 layers has been produced and the baseline resistivity as well as the gas sensitive response towards oxygen, humidity and nitrogen dioxide of each layer has been determined.