The response behavior of artificially tilted multilayer thermoelectric devices (ATMTDs) to thermal radiation has been intensely investigated for remote thermal detection; however, their response behavior to thermal contact is still not well understood. In this letter, Fe/Bi2Te2.7Se0.3 ATMTDs have been fabricated by alternately stacking metallic Fe layers and Bi2Te2.7Se0.3 layers to reveal the response behavior to thermal contact. It was found that the transverse thermoelectric voltages (ΔVx) of the ATMTDs once contacting heat source were rapidly raised in the first seconds and then nonlinearly attenuated after reaching maximum ΔVx. A one-dimensional unsteady heat transfer model was proposed to reveal the attenuation process, which obeys an exponential variation and strongly depends on the heat source temperature. Using the ATMTDs as temperature sensors, the detection uncertainty can be less than 1 K. This work has demonstrated great potential application of the ATMTDs in the field of contact-type temperature detection.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.