HCl/CSA doped POT-Mn3O4 nanocomposites based conformable thin film temperature sensor for prosthetic hand gloves

Flexible and conformable Hydrochloric acid/Camphor sulphonic acid doped thin film of poly-o-toluidine-Mn3O4 nanocomposites has been fabricated on fire retardant glass cloth substrate. These films were found to have RT-NTC characteristics in the temperature range of 30-185 degrees C. The thermistor cut off has been found in the temperature range of 140-185 +/- 5 degrees C depending upon the type of dopant. The material has been characterized using FT-IR, XRD, TEM for structure and morphology and TGA/DTA/DTG for thermal stability. Thermistor constant (beta) obtained from RT characteristics are in the range of 6,210-8,080 K and 6,736-8,824 K for HCl doped and CSA doped thin films respectively. The activation energies (DE) are obtained in the range 0.535-0.697 eV for HCl doped and 0.580-0.760 eV for CSA doped thin films. Further the linearization of thin film based NTC thermistors was carried out by using low cost analog circuit. The same can be evaluated for point and surface temperature sensing in gloves for prosthetic hands.