The evaluation of a pyroelectric detector with a sprayed carbon multi-wall nanotube black coating in the infrared

The performance of a pyroelectric detector with a “sprayed” multi-wall carbon nanotube (MWCNT) coating was evaluated in the 0.9 μm–24 μm wavelength range. The relative spectral responsivity of this detector was shown to vary by 8% over this wavelength range. Its responsivity exhibited a super-linear response, while its spatial uniformity of response was strongly dependent on the modulation frequency, indicating that the thermal properties of the “sprayed” MWCNTs play an important role in the spatial uniformity of response profiles. The “sprayed” MWCNT coating is far easier to fabricate than other black coatings and it is relatively durable. This, in combination with the small variation observed in the spectral absorbance of the “sprayed” MWCNT coating over a very wide wavelength range, suggests that these coatings appear extremely promising for thermal detection applications in the infrared.