Ultrasensitive electrolyte-assisted temperature sensor

Abstract

Heat sensors form an important class of devices that are used across multiple fields and sectors. For applications such as electronic skin and health monitoring, it is particularly advantageous if the output electronic signals are not only high, stable, and reproducible, but also self-generated to minimize power consumption. Here, we present an ultrasensitive heat sensing concept that fulfills these criteria while also being compatible with scalable low-cost manufacturing on flexible substrates. The concept resembles a traditional thermocouple, but with separated electrodes bridged by a gel-like electrolyte and with orders of magnitudes higher signals (around 11 mV K−1). The sensor pixels provide stable and reproducible signals upon heating, which, for example, could be used for heat mapping. Further modification to plasmonic nanohole metasurface electrodes made the sensors capable of also detecting light-induced heating. Finally, we present devices on flexible substrates and show that they can be used to detect human touch.