Hydrothermal synthesis of zinc oxide/PEDOT:PSS composite for flexible temperature sensor application

Abstract

A flexible and printable temperature sensor was proposed for a fast detection of temperature measurements. A hybrid composite of zinc oxide (ZnO) and a conductive polymer poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(styrenesulfonicacid) (PEDOT:PSS) was utilized as the temperature-sensing layer. An interdigitated electrodes structure based on silver (Ag) ink was used to electrically connect the composite through a facile drop-casting technique. A standout aspect of this work is the presentation of ZnO/PEDOT:PSS as a temperature-sensing layer. The PEDOT:PSS flakes were connected by hydrothermally prepared ZnO nanorods, which increased the composite sheets’ electrical conductivity. The linearity, sensitivity, stability and dynamic response of the flexible sensor were examined from a temperature of 29 °C–60 °C. The sensor has high sensitivity of 1.06% °C−1 with response and recovery times of 5 s and 12.7 s, respectively. This work clearly demonstrates the potential of ZnO/PEDOT:PSS composite for flexible temperature sensor and adds to the rapidly expanding field of personalized mobile healthcare.