Pyroelectric infrared sensor with high absorptivity graphene electrodes

The pyroelectric infrared device (PID) with high absorptivity graphene electrodes (GE) is reported in this paper. The sensitive film of the device is prepared by using piezoelectric poly(vinylidene fluoride-trifluoroethylene) composite materials. We use black graphene conductive ink to prepare the electrodes by using screen-printing technology. The black graphene electrode has high absorptivity at the range from near-infrared to mid-infrared. In order to verify the PID-GE, the control group (CG) device, which uses the Ni/Fe electrode, is also fabricated. When the chopping frequency is 3 Hz, the peak-to-peak value (Vpp) and signal to noise ratio (SNR) of the PIR-GE are enhanced 204% and 31.65%, respectively, relative to that of the PIR-CG. The largest detectivity of the PID-GE is about 1.58×108  cm·Hz1/2·W−1; it is approximate to that of the commercial device LME-352-#, which is prepared by using LiTaO3 with the black layer.