Analysis of Hollow Fiber Temperature Sensor Filled with Graphene-Ag Composite Nanowire and Liquid

A hollow fiber temperature sensor filled with graphene-Ag composite nanowire and liquid is presented and numerically characterized. The coupling properties and sensing performances are analyzed by finite element method (FEM) using both wavelength and amplitude interrogations. Due to the asymmetrical surface plasmon resonance sensing (SPR) region, the designed sensor exhibits strong birefringence, supporting two separate resonance peaks in orthogonal polarizations. Results show that x-polarized resonance peak can provide much better signal to noise ratio (SNR), wavelength and amplitude sensitivities than y-polarized, which is more suitable for tempertature detecting. The graphene-Ag composite nanowire filled into the hollow fiber core can not only solve the oxidation problem but also avoid the metal coating. A wide temperature range from 22 degrees C to 47 degrees C with steps of 5 degrees C is calculated and the temperature sensitivities we obtained are 9.44 nm/degrees C for x-polarized and 5.33 nm/degrees C for y-polarized, much higher than other sensors of the same type.