PISTA - Pirolisi selettiva e controllata di materiali polimerici per l'etichettatura intelligente (Smart Tag) di packaging in ambito agrifood

The PISTA project focuses on the laser-induced selective pyrolysis transformation of polymers used in packaging. This process will be optimized to induce a modification of insulant polymers inducing electrical conductivity. This rapid and selective material modification will enable the fabrication of integrated circuits to be used as RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) antennas in smart tags. These tags will be integrated into, or onto, biodegradable (or recycled) packaging materials typically used in the secondary agro-industry. It is important to note that the secondary agro-industry encompasses not only the processing of agricultural products or livestock, but also the production of equipment, packaging production, and the management of logistics and distribution services for processed products. In this context, the PISTA project aims to achieve a new process step in aid of logistics management through the integration of smart tags facilitating the products information storage. It is known from the state of the art that the use of electrically conductive inks has overcome the need for expensive and time-consuming lithography processes for manufacturing RFID tags. However, the process optimized by the PISTA project would take a further step forward: the integration of smart tags consisting in carbonaceous materials, thus having low environmental impact, directly onto the packaging. This would drastically reduce the amount of material used for tag manufacturing, leading to significant savings in terms of time and production costs. The project Team, supported by its chemical expertise, laser processing knowledge, and data management skills, intends to conduct a Design of Experiment (DOE) aimed at patterning integrated conductive circuits using the tools (laser sources, characterization instruments) already available at the Politecnico di Torino.