Flexible temperature-pressure dual sensor based on 3D spiral thermoelectric Bi<sub>2</sub>Te<sub>3</sub> films.

Yu, Hailong; Hu, Zhenqing; He, Juan; Ran, Yijun; Zhao, Yang; Yu, Zhi; Tai, Kaiping · Nat Commun · 2024

basic_science · Level V

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Abstract

Dual-parameter pressure-temperature sensors are widely employed in personal health monitoring and robots to detect external signals. Herein, we develop a flexible composite dual-parameter pressure-temperature sensor based on three-dimensional (3D) spiral thermoelectric Bi<sub>2</sub>Te<sub>3</sub> films. The film has a (000l) texture and good flexibility, exhibiting a maximum Seebeck coefficient of -181 μV K<sup>-1</sup> and piezoresistance gauge factor of approximately -9.2. The device demonstrates a record-high temperature-sensing performance with a high sensing sensitivity (-426.4 μV K<sup>-1</sup>) and rapid response time (~0.95 s), which are better than those observed in most previous studies. In addition, owing to the piezoresistive effect in the Bi<sub>2</sub>Te<sub>3</sub> film, the 3D-spiral deviceexhibits significant pressure-response properties with a pressure-sensing sensitivity of 120 Pa<sup>-1</sup>. This innovative approach achieves high-performance dual-parameter sensing using one kind of material with high flexibility, providing insight into the design and fabrication of many applications, such as e-skin.