High-sensitivity self-powered temperature/pressure sensor based on flexible Bi-Te thermoelectric film and porous microconed elastomer

doi:10.1016/j.jmst.2021.07.008

Abstract

Abstract:

Electronic skins are artificial skin-type multifunctional sensors, which hold great potentials in intelligent robotics, limb prostheses and human health monitoring. However, it is a great challenge to independently and accurately read various physical signals without power supplies. Here, a self-powered flexible temperature-pressure bimodal sensor based on high-performance thermoelectric films and porous microconed conductive elastic materials is presented. Through introducing flexible heat-sink design and harvesting body heat energy, the thin-film thermoelectric device could not only precisely sense temperature signal but also drive the pressure sensor for detecting external tactile stimulus. The integration of Bi-Te based thermoelectric film with high stability in wide temperature range enables the sensor to sense the ambient temperature with high resolution (<0.1 K) as well as excellent sensitivity (3.77 mV K^-1). Meanwhile, the porous microconed elastomer responds to pressure variation with low-pressure detection (16 Pa) and a high sensitivity of 37 kPa^-1. Furthermore, the bimodal sensor could accurately and simultaneously monitor human wrist pulse and body temperature in real time, which demonstrates promising applications in self-powered electronic skins for human health monitoring systems.

Key words: Bimodal sensor, Body heat energy, Porous microconed architecture, Bi-Te based thermoelectric film, Self-powered E-skins

Yaling Wang, Wei Zhu, Yuan Deng, Pengcheng Zhu, Yuedong Yu, Shaoxiong Hu, Ruifeng Zhang. High-sensitivity self-powered temperature/pressure sensor based on flexible Bi-Te thermoelectric film and porous microconed elastomer[J]. J. Mater. Sci. Technol., 2022, 103: 1-7.

Figures/Tables 8

Fig. 1. (a) Fabricating process of thermoelectric temperature sensing device through magnetron sputtering. (b) Fabrication process of porous microconed pressure sensor.

Fig. 2. XRD patterns of as-deposited thermoelectric thin films. (a) Bi2Te3, (b) Sb2Te3. The top-view and cross-sectional SEM images of the thermoelectric materials (c1, c2) Bi2Te3, (d1, d2) Sb2Te3. Temperature-dependent thermoelectric properties of the prepared thin films. (e) Bi2Te3, (f) Sb2Te3.

Fig. 3. Sensing characterization of TEG sensor. (a) Output voltages of the sensor in forward and reverse connections. (b) The output voltage of the device at the ΔT range from 0 to100 K. The insert exhibits magnified electric signal of the sensor to detect the ΔT of 0.1 K. (c) Linear sensitivity of the temperature sensor at different temperature gradients. The inset exhibits the image of testing setup. (d) The cold-side and hot-side temperature change of TEG based on flexible hydrogel heat sink. The inset exhibits the output voltage of our temperature sensor for calculating the temperature of hot cup and the thermal images of hot cup.

Fig. 4. The SEM morphologies of porous microcones. (a) Top-view image. (b) Cross-sectional morphology.

Fig. 5. Sensing property of the flexible porous mocroconed pressure sensor. (a) Relative voltage change of the device ((V0-V)/V0) versus applied pressure. (b) Response time of the pressure sensor with load of 500 Pa. (c) Frequency-dependent responses of flexible pressure sensor recorded from 0.2 Hz to 2 Hz. (d) The response curves of detecting a small pressure utilizing a grain of rice. (e) Voltage-current (V-I) curves with various applied pressures. (f) Stability test under a load of 500 Pa.

Fig. 6. Simultaneous sensing property of the temperature-pressure sensor. Output voltage signals of the bimodal sensors to (a) infrared laser, (b) empty cup, (c) warm cup at an ambient temperature of 29 °C.

Fig. 7. (a) Voltage change of the pressure sensing device under 500 Pa of loading-unloading cycles under different △T (1.5 K, 2.5 K and 5 K) across the thin-film TEG. (b) Voltage variations of TEG at various △T when different pressures are applied to the pressure sensor.

Fig. 8. The self-powered bimodal sensor as a health detector based on body heat energy. The response of detecting various human movement behaviors (a) palm, and (b) artery pulses.

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