Roll-to-Roll Printing of Anomalous Nernst Thermopile for Direct Sensing of Perpendicular Heat Flux

Abstract

The anomalous Nernst effect (ANE) converts heat flux perpendicular to the plane into electricity, in sharp contrast with the Seebeck effect (SE), enabling mass production, large area, and flexibility of their devices through ordinary thin-film fabrication techniques. Heat flux sensors, one of the most promising applications of ANE, are powerful devices for evaluating heat flow and can lead to energy savings through efficient thermal management. In reality, however, SE caused by the in-plane heat flux is always superimposed on the measurement signal, making it difficult to evaluate the perpendicular heat flux. Here, ANE-type heat flux sensors that selectively detect a perpendicular heat flux are fabricated by adjusting the net Seebeck coefficient in their thermopile circuit with mass-producible roll-to-roll sputtering methods. The direct sensing of perpendicular heat flux using ANE-based flexible thermopiles, as well as their simple fabrication process, paves the way for the practical application of thin-film thermoelectric devices.

Keywords: anomalous Nernst effect (ANE); flexible electronics; heat flux sensing; magnetic thin films; sensors; thermoelectric devices.