Silver nanowire decorated heatable textiles

Abstract

The modification of insulating fabrics with electrically conductive nanomaterials has opened up a novel application field. With the help of Joule heating mechanism, conductive fabrics can be used as mobile heaters. In this work, heatable textiles are fabricated using silver nanowires (Ag NWs). Cotton fabrics are decorated with polyol synthesized Ag NWs via a simple dip-and-dry method. The time-dependent thermal response of the fabrics under different applied voltages is investigated. It is found that the fabrics can be heated to 50 °C under an applied power density of as low as 0.05 W cm(-2). Uniform deposition of Ag NWs resulted in the homogeneous generation of heat. In addition, the stability of the fabrics with time and under different bending and washing conditions is examined. Moreover, a simple control circuit is fabricated and integrated in order to demonstrate the high potential of the fabrics for mobile applications. This work provides a roadmap for researchers who would like to work on heatable textiles with metallic NWs.

A toxicology-informed, safer by design approach for the fabrication of transparent electrodes based on silver nanowires

“…Many applications using AgNWs have been investigated, including touch screens, light-emitting devices, transparent film heaters and others. [4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12] This system has many advantages such as very low sheet resistance with high transparency, flexibility, and low-cost processing under ambient conditions. Though many important advances have been realized in this field, some key points remain to be tackled, in particular, toxicity issues for safe industrial use.…”

Transparent Heaters: A Review

“…Regarding chemical oxidation and aging, typical measurements are carried out in environmental chambers and involve the simultaneous exposure to controlled humidity and temperature, combined with light irradiation. [ 48,117 ] Generally, the relative humidity chosen is over 80%, and the temperature between 45 and 90 °C, which covers most of the harshest use conditions. [ 70,93,118–121 ] Study durations varies strongly, and usually depends on the anticipated stability of the TH and on the expected lifetime of its components.…”

“…[ 93 ] As reported below (Section 4.5.3), the deposition of a thin oxide layer on top of MNW networks drastically enhances their stability or their adhesion. [ 47,48,170 ] These nanocomposites can lead to efficient and stable THs, [ 44,46,47,117,172 ] as discussed further in Section 4.5.…”

Functional Fibers, Composites and Textiles Utilizing Photothermal and Joule Heating

“…As another approach to fabricate Joule heaters, electrically conducting materials have been simply coated on textiles that are already manufactured using conventional fibers. In a previous study, Ag NWs were synthesized as a dispersion in ethanol solutions, and cleaned cotton fabrics were repeatedly immersed into the solutions until the sheet resistance reached 2.5 Ωsq −1 , then dried and firmly attached with a silver paste and copper tape [114]. The temperature of the resulting textiles could be controlled between 30 and 125 • C, corresponding to the applied voltages between 1 and 6 V. The heating performance of the as-coated fabric remained preserved after 5000 bending cycles.…”