Solid state ionics enabled ultra-sensitive detection of thermal trace with 0.001K resolution in deep sea

Exploration of deep sea areas relies on sonar and other visual and auditory sensors, but gaining information via temperature sensing in deep sea areas is difficult to realize. Here, the authors design an elastic, self-healable and sensitive thermal sensor which can identify a temperature difference as low as 0.01 K with a resolution of 0.001 K The deep sea remains the largest uncharted territory on Earth because it's eternally dark under high pressure and the saltwater is corrosive and conductive. The harsh environment poses great difficulties for the durability of the sensing method and the device. Sea creatures like sharks adopt an elegant way to detect objects by the tiny temperature differences in the seawater medium using their extremely thermo-sensitive thermoelectric sensory organ on the nose. Inspired by shark noses, we designed and developed an elastic, self-healable and extremely sensitive thermal sensor which can identify a temperature difference as low as 0.01 K with a resolution of 0.001 K. The sensor can work reliably in seawater or under a pressure of 110 MPa without any encapsulation. Using the integrated temperature sensor arrays, we have constructed a model of an effective deep water mapping and detection device.

Automated summary

The researchers have developed an elastic, self-healable and sensitive thermal sensor that can identify a temperature difference as low as 0.01 K in the deep sea areas. This sensor provides a solution to the challenge of obtaining temperature information in such environment.