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Ultrathin, Flexible and Freestanding Nickel Mesh Film for Transparent Thermoacoustic Loudspeakers

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Abstract

Purpose

As one of the metallic mesh films extensively used in the manufacture of supercapacitors, the nickel film is produced by the direct-writing technique and a selective metal electrodeposited process. Nickel mesh possess offers a range of advantages, including ultrathin thickness, ultralight weight, and high transparency. The advantages of the nickel film can give it the potential to become a thermoacoustic (TA) device. However, studies of nickel films in thermoacoustic have not been published. By considering the thermoacoustic effect, we develop a flexible transparent freestanding loudspeaker based on nickel film. Further, the feasibility of nickel film as a thermoacoustic device is verified, and the influencing factors are analyzed.

Methods

First, the fabrication of the mesh nickel film mainly includes spin-coated photoresist, laser direct writing, and selective electrodeposition. A free-standing thermoacoustic experimental device can be set up by peeling off the nickel mesh and applying alternating current (AC). Then the TA model of nickel films is established by combining the thermoelastic coupling equation and the electrothermal energy conservation relation. The analytical expression for nickel film’s sound pressure (SP) is derived accordingly. On this basis, the experimental environment is set up. Then, an AC is applied to the nickel film to obtain the SP and verify its feasibility as a TA loudspeaker. Next, the accuracy of the TA model is verified by comparing the experimental and theoretical results. Finally, some important parameters affecting the nickel thin film TA emission, e.g. SP, input power, test distance, and test time are summarized and analyzed in detail.

Conclusion

The acoustic properties of the nickel film were tested through a series of experiments. The theoretical results agree well with the experimental ones, which validates the present nickel film TA model. It is shown that nickel film TA loudspeakers have many advantages, such as freestanding, transparency, flexibility, flat frequency response curve, and large output sound. The nickel film output sound is better than the previous TA devices. Nickel films can be manufactured as excellent TA loudspeakers. Therefore, it can be further explored or applied to various potential applications, such as wearable electronic devices, portable audio, or active noise control in vehicles.

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Data availability

The datasets generated during and analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 51875374).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Vehicle Engineering, School of Rail Transportation, Soochow University, Suzhou, 215131, Jiangsu, China

    Qingyu Zhang, Xueze Zhang, Feng Zhu, Zhao Tang & Shuang Li

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  1. Qingyu Zhang
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  2. Xueze Zhang
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  3. Feng Zhu
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  4. Zhao Tang
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Correspondence to Shuang Li.

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Zhang, Q., Zhang, X., Zhu, F. et al. Ultrathin, Flexible and Freestanding Nickel Mesh Film for Transparent Thermoacoustic Loudspeakers. J. Vib. Eng. Technol. 12, 1037–1048 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42417-023-00892-x

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