Scalable Deposition of Nanomaterial-Based Temperature Sensors for Transparent and Pervasive Electronics

Abstract EN

This work presents a comparative analysis of materials for planar semitransparent thermocouples fabricated by spray deposition on a flexible substrate.

Three different materials are employed to build such devices, analyzing also the effect of the spray order in their final performance.

The highest Seebeck coefficient (50.4 μV/K) is found for a junction made of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) on top of silver nanowires (AgNWs) whereas its efficiency in terms of power is the lowest because of the higher sheet resistance of the CNTs.

In this case, the best combination for energy-harvesting purposes would be poly (3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) polystyrene sulfonate (PEDOT:PSS) and AgNWs, with a power factor of 219 fW/K2.

These results prove the feasibility of developing large-scale and cost-effective thermocouples that could be used for sensing or energy-harvesting applications.