Low-Voltage Electrical Heater Based on One-Step Fabrication of Conductive Cu Nanowire Networks for Application in Wearable Devices

Wearable electrical heaters have increasingly attracted much attention owing to their efficient applications in personal thermal management and thermal therapy systems. Herein, a flexible, low driving voltage, heat-resistant, and rapid-response Cu nanowire networks (CNNs)/clean nylon woven fabric (CNWF) wearable electrical heater is presented based on the highly conductive CNNs and fabric substrate (Nylon 66). The highly conductive and uniform CNNs are prepared by simple one-step liquid phase reduction method without any post-treatment. Nylon 66 fabric greatly improves the application performance of electrical heaters owing to their flexibility, good thermal stability, and high mechanical strength. The CNNs/CNWF wearable electrical heater exhibits an exceedingly low sheet resistance of 0.16 omega sq(-1). Moreover, the temperature of the CNNs/CNWF electrical heater with five layers can quickly reach to 142.2 degrees C within 45 s under 1.8 V. The simulation of the finite elemental analysis (ANSYS 18.2) is used to simulate the process of electrical heating. Although, there is a deviation between the simulated data and the measured data, the deviation is less than 10%. This work lays the foundation for improving the performance and energy saving of personal thermal management textiles based on Joule heating.

Automated summary

This study introduces a flexible, low driving voltage, heat-resistant, and rapid-response Cu nanowire networks/clean nylon woven fabric wearable electrical heater, with highly conductive and uniform features that can quickly heat up in a short time. In addition, through methods such as finite element analysis, it lays the foundation for improving the performance and energy saving of personal thermal management textiles based on Joule heating.