Abstract
Graphene-coated polypropylene (PP) textile fibers are presented for their use as temperature sensors. These temperature sensors show a negative thermal coefficient of resistance (TCR) in a range between 30 and 45 °C with good sensitivity and reliability and can operate at voltages as low as 1 V. The analysis of the transient response of the temperature on resistance of different types of graphene produced by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) and shear exfoliation of graphite (SEG) shows that trilayer graphene (TLG) grown on copper by CVD displays better sensitivity due to the better thickness uniformity of the film and that carbon paste provides good contact for the measurements. Along with high sensitivity, TLG on PP shows not only the best response but also better transparency, mechanical stability, and washability compared to SEG. Temperature-dependent Raman analysis reveals that the temperature has no significant effect on the peak frequency of PP and expected effect on graphene in the demonstrated temperature range. The presented results demonstrate that these flexible, lightweight temperature sensors based on TLG with a negative TCR can be easily integrated in fabrics.
Highlights
Wearable technology is becoming a part of our lives, and the global e-textile market continues to grow at a rate of 25% according to the “Global E-textile Market 2018-2022” report.[1]
We propose a resistive temperature sensor based on an insulating polypropylene (PP) monofilament textile fiber that uses graphene as the temperature-sensing layer and the change in resistance with temperature as the sensing parameter
The three types of graphene grown by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) are as follows: singlelayer graphene (SLG), purposely developed trilayer graphene (TLG) grown on copper, and few-layer graphene (FLG) grown on nickel
Summary
Wearable technology is becoming a part of our lives, and the global e-textile market continues to grow at a rate of 25% according to the “Global E-textile Market 2018-2022” report.[1]. Sensitive polymers on polyimide sheets,[13] and even novel approaches have been adopted to sense the temperature such as using optical fibers.[14] all these techniques require subsequently attaching the flexible sensor to a fabric, or to a patch as artificial electronic skin,[15] and are not completely integrated on textiles. Most of these sensors are sensitive to washing, lack mechanical stability, and would need to be patched on the skin; some require a high supply voltage. A TESCAN VEGA3 scanning electron microscope (SEM) was used to perform morphological characterization of the sensor’s surface at an accelerating voltage of 10 kV and working distance of 10 mm
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