Ultra-thin and high-response transparent and flexible heater based on carbon nanotube film

Abstract

We demonstrated transparent and flexible heaters based on single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) using solution and room temperature processing. The direct film fabrication and curing onto a plastic substrate requiring no transfer processing enable a low-cost potential and large-scale fabrication of devices while restraining defects and damage to the transparent and flexible SWNT heaters. The developed ultra-thin heaters show high saturation temperature and extremely high response speed, as indicated by reaching over 100 °C within 1 s at an input voltage of 7 V. The temperature-power performance achieved 187 °C/W·cm2. The transparent and flexible heater with low driving voltage and high response speed is expected to have innovative thermal applications such as portable medical sensors and devices.