Screen-Printed Fabrication of PEDOT:PSS/Silver Nanowire Composite Films for Transparent Heaters

Abstract

A transparent and flexible film heater was fabricated; based on a hybrid structure of poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) poly(styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) and silver nanowires (Ag NWs) using a screen printing; which is a scalable production technology. The resulting film integrates the advantages of the two conductive materials; easy film-forming and strong adhesion to the substrate of the polymer PEDOT:PSS; and high conductivity of the Ag NWs. The fabricated composite films with different NW densities exhibited the transmittance within the range from 82.3% to 74.1% at 550 nm. By applying 40 V potential on the films; a stable temperature from 49 °C to 99 °C was generated within 30 s to 50 s. However; the surface temperature of the pristine PEDOT:PSS film did not increase compared to the room temperature. The composite film with the transmittance of 74.1% could be heated to the temperatures from 41 °C to 99 °C at the driven voltages from 15 V to 40 V; indicating that the film heater exhibited uniform heating and rapid thermal response. Therefore; the PEDOT:PSS/Ag NW composite film is a promising candidate for the application of the transparent and large-scale film heaters.

A Review of Conductive Metal Nanomaterials as Conductive, Transparent, and Flexible Coatings, Thin Films, and Conductive Fillers: Different Deposition Methods and Applications

“…Other deposition methods for producing a conductive thin film from conductive metal nanomaterials are used less regularly than the methods introduced above; these include solution casting [66,67], the Langmuir-Blodgett deposition method [68,69], screen printing [32], stamp printing [70], electrophoretic deposition [71][72][73], and printing via laser ablation [74]. Among the methods introduced above, only some are scalable and feasible for industrial/commercial production (rod, spray, and dip coating), and more research is needed to increase compatibility with industrial demands.…”

“…To overcome this issue, they mixed different long and short Ag NWs to achieve simultaneous high fill factor and photocurrent [31]. Application of Ag NWs as filler in poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) poly(styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) successfully increased the electrical conductivity of the polymer and had excellent transparency and flexibility ( Figure 10) [32]. The presence of Ag NWs in the composite enhanced the electrical properties, while PEDOT:PSS improved the adhesion of the thin film to different substrates.…”

“…Although Ag has many advantages, some obstacles remain. Ag NW thin film on bare substrate is very rough, and the thin film can be removed easily by friction; two solutions are using it as filler [20,[30][31][32] or burying Ag NW under the surface of a polymer matrix [18]. Ag NW or Ag NP thin films can be easily oxidized in air and need either a protective layer to prevent oxidation or strong acid treatment to remove the oxidized layer.…”

“…Moreover, the intrinsic slow temperature response of ITO affects its applicability as a film heater. Metal NWs [32] and composites (combinations of conductive metal nanomaterials and polymers) [32,93] were introduced as alternatives for ITO in transparent film heaters.…”

Comprehensive Synthesis Study of Well-Dispersed and Solution-Processed Metal Nanowires for Transparent Heaters

“…So far, these studies focused on (i) fundamental research on AgNW based heaters deposited to rigid substrate such as glass [11,26,64], (ii) stretchability and bendability [75][76][77], (iii) textiles decorated with AgNWs, (iv) stability with regard to a long-term current induced chemical degradation and the maximum operating temperature, and (v) composite material systems such as AgNWs/PEDOT:PSS [64,78], AgNWs/CNTs [66,79], AgNWs/graphene [80], AgNW/clay platelets [11], AgNWs/PMMA [81], and AgNWs/polyacrylate [77] that were reported to improve the adhesion, lower the resistance, and increase the chemical robustness of the devices. In this work, we present a comparison between AgNW-and CuNW-based heaters.…”