High Seebeck Coefficient Inorganic GeGaTe Core/Polymer Cladding Fibers for Respiration and Body Temperature Monitoring.

Wearable thermal sensors based on thermoelectric (TE) materials with high sensitivity and temperature resolution are extensively used in medical diagnosis, human-machine interfaces, and advanced artificial intelligence. However, their development is greatly limited by the lack of materials with both a high Seebeck coefficient and superior anticrystallization ability. Here, a new inorganic amorphous TE material, GeGaTe, with a high Seebeck coefficient of 1109 μV/K is reported. Owing to the large difference between the glass-transition temperature and initial crystallization temperature, GeGaTe strongly inhibits crystallization during fiber fabrication by thermally codrawing a precast rod comprising a GeGaTe core and PP polymer cladding. The temperature difference can be effectively transduced into electrical signals to achieve TE fiber thermal sensing with an accurate temperature resolution of 0.03 K and a fast response time of 4 s. It is important to note that after the 1.5 and 5.5 K temperatures changed repeatedly, the TE properties of the fiber demonstrated high stability. Based on the Seebeck effect and superior flexibility of the fibers, they can be integrated into a mask and wearable fabric for human respiration and body temperature monitoring. The superior thermal sensing performance of the TE fibers together with their natural flexibility and scalable fabrication endow them with promising applications in health-monitoring and intelligent medical systems.