Biobased spintronics - Sustainable magnetic field sensors – printed
News / 28 May 2026
Magnetic field sensors are found in automobiles, smartphones and security systems. But many of these components are made of materials that are neither health- nor environment-friendly and are complex to produce. In Nature Communications (DOI: 10.1038/s41467-026-71077-9), an international team led by researchers from the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR) has now presented a sustainable alternative: printed sensors composed of iron, iron oxide and bio-based materials like cellulose and starch. They measure magnetic fields reliably, are resource-saving to produce and can purportedly be disposed of safely or recycled after use.
Iron, cellulose, and beeswax: an international team led by HZDR researchers has demonstrated that these environmentally friendly materials are sufficient to produce novel magnetic field sensors. Instead of using traditional manufacturing methods, the team opts for bio-based inks and industrial print technologies.
Today, magnetic field sensors are one of the invisible mass-produced products in the electronics industry. They measure movement, positions or distances and can be found in window contacts, steering wheels, hard disks, packaging and cell phones. Billions of these components are manufactured every year. “Many of these sensors contain materials like nickel or cobalt,” says Dr. Denys Makarov, head of the Intelligent Materials and Systems Department at the Institute of Ion Beam Physics and Materials Research at HZDR. “These are materials that can harm the environment and health when not properly disposed.” At the same time, producing them often requires energy-intensive processes and complex manufacturing steps.
The development of sustainable sensors is a technical challenge. While iron is easily available and biocompatible, on its own, it does not achieve the sensitivity required for many of today’s magnetic field sensors. The research team therefore combined iron with iron oxide and developed special core-shell particles in which the iron core is surrounded by a thin layer of oxide.
“Humanity has known about iron and cellulose for centuries,” says Lin Guo, who is implementing the project in his dissertation. “The challenge is to develop a sensor that performs usably with these sustainable materials.” To do so, he notes, the precise composition and processing of the particles are crucial. According to the team, the printed sensors achieve levels of sensitivity comparable to today’s commercial solutions in certain areas.
The sensors are produced by screen printing, a process that is more familiar in the textile industry. Instead of removing a large area of material, the sensor layer is applied in a targeted manner. We only print sensors where we need them,” Makarov explains. This does not just save material but energy, too.
Publication:
L. Guo, R. Xu, P. T. Das, E. S. Oliveros-Mata, X. Peng, O. V. Pylypovskyi, R. Hübner, F. Ganss, X. Wang, Y. Li, S. Gepp, Y. Zabila, X. Bao, S. Li, Q. Zhang, I. Veremchuk, Ž. Janićijević, L. Baraban, C. Voigt, S. Mosch, O. Gutfleisch, R.-W. Li, D. Makarov: Eco-sustainable magnetoresistive sensors towards disposable magnetoelectronics, in Nature Communications, 2026 (DOI: 10.1038/s41467-026-71077-9)