A Novel Optimized Nanoceramic Thermal Sensor with La Modifications for Body Temperature and Fluctuation Measurements

Abstract

Perovskite-type materials particularly PZT have remained at the center of research due to their applicability in fabrication of sensors and actuators. The work presented in this paper focuses on fabrication of PZT (70/30) by sol–gel technique followed by La modifications in structural and dielectric properties. The structural characterization of both parent and modified materials is carried out by SEM and XRD techniques followed by detailed study on dielectric values and variations with frequency and temperature. It is hereby proposed that La-modified PZT(70/30) material with varying concentration of La can prove to be excellent material for the fabrication of thermal sensors which can measure human body temperature and fluctuations in a noninvasive and noncontactual way contrary to the existing conventional body temperature measurement systems. The fabricated sensors on the lab scale are found to be highly power efficient and sensitive. It is established in this paper that the sensitivity and range of body temperature measurement vary with the amount of La doping in parent PZT(70/30) material used to fabricate the sensor.