Silver nanowire decorated heatable textiles.

The modification of insulating fabrics with electrically conductive nanomaterials has opened up a novel application field. With the help of Joule heating mechanism, conductive fabrics can be used as mobile heaters. In this work, heatable textiles are fabricated using silver nanowires (Ag NWs). Cotton fabrics are decorated with polyol synthesized Ag NWs via a simple dip-and-dry method. The time-dependent thermal response of the fabrics under different applied voltages is investigated. It is found that the fabrics can be heated to 50 °C under an applied power density of as low as 0.05 W cm(-2). Uniform deposition of Ag NWs resulted in the homogeneous generation of heat. In addition, the stability of the fabrics with time and under different bending and washing conditions is examined. Moreover, a simple control circuit is fabricated and integrated in order to demonstrate the high potential of the fabrics for mobile applications. This work provides a roadmap for researchers who would like to work on heatable textiles with metallic NWs.