37836
Electrodeposition of Nanowire-Based Thermocouples
Emilyjane Sunga
Mentor: Reginald Penner
Thermocouples are by far the most extensively used temperature sensing devices in industrial
applications worldwide. They are characteristically accurate, resilient, versatile, quick to respond to
sudden temperature changes, and capable of measuring temperatures of wide ranges, even where
other common sensory appliances fail to function. Previous studies have shown that decreasing the
size of thermocouples gives relatively faster response times, which makes for more accurate
measurements during rapid temperature changes. In light of these findings, I have built nickel-silver
nanowire-thin film thermocouples in the hopes that these extremely small devices will yield even
faster response times and, in turn, more accurate results. To fabricate such “nanosized” nickel wires,
I used the method electrochemical step edge decoration to deposit the nickel onto cleaved highly
oriented pyrolytic graphite (HOPG). Once these nickel nanowires were transferred onto glass, silver
film was applied to half of the area where continuous nanowires were found. Contacts and leads were
then applied to render the device functional for temperature sensing and testing. I found that
nanowire-thin film thermocouples indeed have much faster response times than those of commonly
manufactured thermocouples, thus corroborating previous studies. Results of this kind give reason to
believe that even smaller-sized thermocouples, nanowire-nanowire thermocouples, should generate
even faster response times, making nanowire-nanowire thermocouples an ideal model for a
thermocouple.