Highly flexible, hydrophobic, and large area plasma‐polymer‐fluorocarbon/Cu/SiN_x transparent thin film heater and thermotherapy pad application

Abstract

Abstract In this study, we prepared a plasma‐polymer‐fluorocarbon/Cu/SiN x (PCS) film heater with a transparent, self‐cleaning surface and excellent mechanical flexibility by using Cu as the heating metal. The PCS film heater exhibited a maximum transmittance of 78.3% in the visible region, a sheet resistance of 4.6 Ω/sq, and a water contact angle of 105° on the film surface. The maximum mechanical inner bending radius was 4 mm, and the cyclic reliability was excellent. In particular, despite the lower optical properties, compared with those of the Ag‐based heater, the maximum transmittance of the PCS film heater in the visible light region was almost the same as that of Ag, and the maximum bending radius was smaller. To evaluate the industrial applicability of the PCS film heater, various sizes were fabricated to evaluate the electrical and heating properties, and a thermotherapy pad was fabricated to demonstrate its applicability as a medical device.