Abstract
In this work, we investigate the thermal and acoustic frequency responses of nanostructured thermoacoustic loudspeakers. An opposite frequency dependence of thermal and acoustic responses was found independently of the device substrate (Kapton and glass) and the nanometric active film (silver nanowires and nm-thick metal films). The experimental results are interpreted with the support of a comprehensive electro-thermo-acoustic model, allowing for the separation of the purely thermal effects from the proper thermoacoustic (TA) transduction. The thermal interactions causing the reported opposite trends are understood, providing useful insights for the further development of the TA loudspeaker technology.
Highlights
IntroductionThermoacoustic (TA) loudspeakers (or thermophones) are electroacoustic transducers exploiting the thermoacoustic effect to generate sound
Thermoacoustic (TA) loudspeakers are electroacoustic transducers exploiting the thermoacoustic effect to generate sound
We have investigated the opposite frequency trends shown by the thermal and the acoustic responses of nanostructured TA loudspeakers
Summary
Thermoacoustic (TA) loudspeakers (or thermophones) are electroacoustic transducers exploiting the thermoacoustic effect to generate sound. This technology has long been known [1], but the lack of conductive, low heat capacity materials, required to support an efficient transduction, prevented its further development. The recent advancements in the synthesis of nanostructured materials enabled the fabrication of thin, conductive and low heat capacity layers, which have been successfully used for the design and fabrication of many types of thermoacoustic loudspeakers. Working TA loudspeakers have been fabricated using carbon nanotubes (CNT) [2,3], silver nanowires (AgNW) [4], poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(styrenesulfonic) (PEDOT:PSS) [5], indium-tin oxide (ITO) [6], gold nanowires (AuNW) [7], graphene foam [8], graphene [9], and copper nanowires (CuNW) [10]. While the full electro-acoustic transduction of TA loudspeakers is widely documented in the literature [1,11,12,13,14,15,16,17], the thermal response of TA loudspeakers to the applied electrical stimuli and its role in determining the acoustic response were investigated superficially in the past
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