National Engineering Lab for TFT-LCD Materials and Technologies, Department of Electronic Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China.
Shenzhen Goodix Technology Co. Ltd., Shenzhen 518000, China.
Sensors (Basel). 2019 Sep 23;19(19):4105. doi: 10.3390/s19194105.
Thermal-resistance temperature sensors generally employ temperature-sensitive materials as active layers, which are always deposited on a flexible substrate to improve flexibility. Such a temperature sensor is usually integrated in wearable devices with other sensors, such as pressure sensors and stretchable sensors. In prior works, the temperature and pressure sensors are usually located in different layers in a multifunction sensor, which results in a complicated fabrication process, as well as a large thickness of devices. Meanwhile, many temperature sensors are based on large areas of non-transparent materials, leading to difficulties in integrating display applications. In this paper, we demonstrate a flexible temperature sensor based on polyaniline/graphene (GPANI)-polyvinyl butyral (PVB) thin film and indium tin oxides (ITO)- polyethylene terephthalate (PET) substrates. The GPANI particles embedded in PVB film not only contribute to temperature detection, but also response to external pressures, due to weak deformations. In addition, the thin composite film (2.7 μm) highly improved the transparency. By optimizing the device structure, the sensor integrates temperature and pressure detection into one single layer, which shows a wide temperature range of 25-80 °C, a pressure range of 0-30 kPa, and a high transparency (>80%). The temperature sensor offers great potential for applications in emerging wearable devices and electronic skins.
热敏电阻温度传感器通常采用热敏材料作为有源层，这些材料通常沉积在柔性基底上以提高其柔韧性。这种温度传感器通常与其他传感器（如压力传感器和可拉伸传感器）集成在可穿戴设备中。在之前的工作中，温度传感器和压力传感器通常位于多功能传感器的不同层中，这导致制造工艺复杂，器件厚度较大。同时，许多温度传感器基于大面积的不透明材料，这使得集成显示应用变得困难。在本文中，我们展示了一种基于聚苯胺/石墨烯（GPANI）-聚丁烯醛（PVB）薄膜和铟锡氧化物（ITO）-聚对苯二甲酸乙二醇酯（PET）基底的柔性温度传感器。嵌入在 PVB 薄膜中的 GPANI 颗粒不仅有助于温度检测，而且由于较弱的变形也对外部压力有响应。此外，薄膜复合材料（2.7μm）显著提高了透光率。通过优化器件结构，传感器将温度和压力检测集成到单个层中，其温度范围为 25-80°C，压力范围为 0-30kPa，透光率大于 80%。该温度传感器在新兴的可穿戴设备和电子皮肤中有很大的应用潜力。
