Conjuncted photo-thermoelectric effect in ZnO–graphene nanocomposite foam for self-powered simultaneous temperature and light sensing

Abstract

The self-powered sensors are more and more important in current society. However, detecting both light and temperature signals simultaneously without energy waste and signal interference is still a challenge. Here, we report a ZnO/graphene nanocomposite foam-based self-powered sensor, which can realize the simultaneous detection of light and temperature by using the conjuncted photothermoelectric effect in ZnO-graphene nanocomposite foam sensor. The output current under light, heating and cooling of the device with the best ZnO/graphene ratio (8:1) for the foam can reach 1.75 µA, 1.02 µA and 0.70 µA, respectively, which are approximately three fold higher than them of devices with other ZnO/graphene ratios. The ZnO-graphene nanocomposite foam device also possesses excellent thermoelectric and photoelectric performances for conjuncted lighting and heating detection without mutual interference. The ZnO-graphene nanocomposite foam device exhibits a new designation on the road towards the fabrication of low cost and one-circuit-based multifunction sensors and systems. Notably, light and heat are the ubiquitous energy resources in daily life, but only a fraction of it is really utilized and the rest, a very large fraction is in general lost in the environment. This is mainly due to the fact that existing energy harvesting technologies are lacking with desired performances and efficiency and therefore the development of appropriate nanomaterials based energy harvesting technologies has been of prime interest for advanced materials and energy materials communities 1-4. Significant attempts have been continued in this context, especially on the self-powered sensors, which have the ability to scavenge the energies from ambient environmental stimuli, such as light, heat, etc. and can convert these stimulis into electricity 5-7. However, the simultaneous and sensitive detection of light and temperature with a single device is still an open issue to be solved, because most of the sensors can only effectively detect an individual source of signal, leading to high cost and low power conversion efficiency 8. Despite of the fact that researchers have developed the dual-parameter temperature-pressure-sensing devices, these devices are mainly based on organic materials still. Moreover, the muctual influence between both the stimuli signals and complicated device fabrication process still hamper the development of multifunctional sensors with desired high efficiency 9-15. However, to the best of our literature

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