Dielectica traverses through the literature on this device – and summarizes as they appear.
Correspondence prepared by: Sayan Bayan, S. N. Bose National Centre for Basic Sciences, Kolkata, sayan.bayan@gmail.com (19th September, 2020 08:30 IST)
KOLKATA: Although the detection of heat and temperature is a fundamental issue, human body temperature sensing has become an essential aspect to aspect of human civilization due to the ongoing COVID 19 pandemic. However, affording highly sensitive thermal scanners is often expensive due to the microfabrication of its sensors. In addition, the use of external power source (e.g. batteries) makes the system more complex as the frequent replacement of these power sources is an obligatory for the users. In this context, researchers have designed cost effective, self-powered heat sensors called electrolyte-assisted temperature sensor (EATS), similar to the conventional thermocouple based ones, but with higher sensitivity1. In the traditional thermocouple sensors, the temperature sensitivity is restricted to tens of microvolts per Kelvin, whereas EATS provides 300 times higher signals and can detect small temperature changes
(0.1 °C). The simple structure composed of concept two different metals connected by a printable gel-like electrolyte, endows EATS not only cost effectiveness but also provides the applicability on rigid as well as flexible platforms by manufacturing methods. These sensors are claimed to be very stable for long time usage. It is anticipated that in near future EATS can replace the commercial thermocouple based sensors following its improved features and performance over the later with low-cost large scale production.
Source: 1 npj Flexible Electronics (2020) 4:23; DOI:10.1038/s41528-020-00086-5