Hybrid windshield-glass heater for commercial vehicles fabricated via enhanced electrostatic interactions among a substrate, silver nanowires, and an over-coating layer

We introduce a transparent windshield-glass heater produced via transparent electrodes using silver nanowire (AgNW) networks for conventional use in the automobile industry. A high-quality conducting hybrid film is deposited on a plasma-treated glass substrate by spraying AgNWs, immersing the sprayed product in positively charged adhesive polymer solution, and then spraying negatively charged graphene oxide (GO) and a silane layer as an over-coating layer (OCL). The results of heating tests conducted after adhesion tests show that the sheet resistance changes with the application of polymer glue. Surprisingly, the transmittance of the film with the GO OCL is higher than that of the film without the GO OCL. Heating and defrosting tests are carefully conducted via infrared (IR) monitoring. Adhesive-polymer-treated and GO-protected AgNW transparent glass heaters exhibit the best performance with low sheet resistance; thus, through strong electrostatic interaction among the substrate, adhesive layer, and OCL, our AgNW hybrid glass heater can reach the target temperature with a standard vehicle voltage of 12 V in a short period of time.