Visual and flexible temperature sensor based on a pectin-xanthan gum blend film

With the rapid progress in electronics technology, there has been an increasing trend towards making electronic devices light, flexible, and wearable. This study investigates an artificial skin-like temperature sensor based on pectin and xanthan gum. The highly flexible and transparent temperature sensor that was fabricated was simple in structure and the sensitivity was 53–130%°C−1 in the temperature range of 26 °C–50 °C. The temperature-sensitive thermochromic ink that was added to the sensing film enables the visualization of the temperature-sensing process. This smart thermal sensor can be widely applied in industries as electronic skin, human body temperature measurements, and environmental monitoring, etc.