Ultraflexible Glassy Semiconductor Fibers for Thermal Sensing and Positioning

Ting Zhang (1) , Zhe Wang (1) , Bhuvanesh Srinivasan (2) , Zhixun Wang (1) , Jing Zhang (1) , Kaiwei Li (1) , Catherine Boussard-Plédel (2) , Johann Troles (2) , Bruno Bureau (2) , Lei Wei (1)

1 Nanyang Technological University [Singapour]
2 ISCR - Institut des Sciences Chimiques de Rennes

Flexible, large-area, and low-cost thermal sensing networks with high spatial and temporal resolution are of profound importance in addressing the increasing needs for industrial processing, medical diagnosis, and military defense. Here, a thermoelectric (TE) fiber is fabricated by thermally codrawing a macroscopic preform containing a semiconducting glass core and a polymer cladding to deliver thermal sensor functionalities at fiber-optic length scales, flexibility, and uniformity. The resulting TE fiber sensor operates in a wide temperature range with high thermal detection sensitivity and accuracy, while offering ultraflexibility with the bending curvature radius below 2.5 mm. Additionally, a single TE fiber can either sense the spot temperature variation or locate the heat/cold spot on the fiber. As a proof of concept, a two-dimensional 3 × 3 fiber array is woven into a textile to simultaneously detect the temperature distribution and the position of heat/cold source with the spatial resolution of millimeter. Achieving this may lead to the realization of large-area, flexible, and wearable temperature sensing fabrics for wearable electronics and advanced artificial intelligence applications.

Mots clés: fiber fabrication; glassy semiconductors; mechanical flexibility; thermal sensors; thermoelectric fibers; wearable electronics

Domaines: Matériaux

Ting Zhang, Zhe Wang, Bhuvanesh Srinivasan, Zhixun Wang, Jing Zhang, et al.. Ultraflexible Glassy Semiconductor Fibers for Thermal Sensing and Positioning. ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, 2019, 11 (2), pp.2441-2447. ⟨10.1021/acsami.8b20307⟩. ⟨hal-01971819⟩