A Handy Flexible Micro-Thermocouple Using Low-Melting-Point Metal Alloys

A handy, flexible micro-thermocouple using low-melting-point metal alloys is proposed in this paper. The thermocouple has the advantages of simple fabrication and convenient integration. Bismuth/gallium-based mixed alloys are used as thermocouple materials. To precisely inject the metal alloys to the location of the sensing area, a micro-polydimethylsiloxane post is designed within the sensing area to prevent outflow of the metal alloy to another thermocouple pole during the metal-alloy injection. Experimental results showed that the Seebeck coefficient of this thermocouple reached -10.54 V/K, which was much higher than the previously reported 0.1 V/K. The thermocouple was also be bent at 90 degrees more than 200 times without any damage when the mass ratio of the bismuth-based alloy was <60% in the metal-alloy mixture. This technology mitigated the difficulty of depositing traditional thin-film thermocouples on soft substrates. Therefore, the thermocouple demonstrated its potential for use in microfluidic chips, which are usually flexible devices.