Preparation of PCLT/P(VDF-TrFE) pyroelectric sensor based on plastic film substrate

Nanosized lead titanate doped with calcium and lanthanum (PCLT) powder obtained by the sol–gel method was homogeneously mixed with vinylidene fluoride-trifluoroethylene [P(VDF-TrFE)]. The nanocomposite PCLT/P(VDF-TrFE) film was used as the sensing film for pyroelectric sensors, whose detective merit was about 22.4% higher than that of sensors using pure P(VDF-TrFE). A 35 nm ITO film was deposited as the bottom electrode on PET plastic film substrate, on which PCLT/P(VDF-TrFE) was prepared by spin-coating, and Ni–Cr film was chosen as the upper electrode. The PET plastic film substrate could effectively decrease the thermal conductivity of the element and the ITO bottom electrode could reflect the infrared irradiation. The voltage responsivity was increased and the thermal fluctuation noise of the pyroelectric element was decreased significantly. The experimental results indicated that the specific detectivity of PCLT/P(VDF-TrFE) pyroelectric sensors based on PET film substrate reached 3.4E7 cm Hz^1/2 W⁻¹, more than two orders of magnitude higher than that of the sensors on bulk silicon substrate formed under the same conditions.