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We presented a facile method to prepare silver nanowire (Ag NW) transparent conductive film (TCF) for heaters. Hydroxylpropyl methyl cellulose (HPMC) was used for achieving the excellent dispersity of Ag NWs owing to the hydrogen bonding interaction, at the same time, improved the adhesion between the Ag NW and the substrate. Moreover, the transmittance of the conductive film was also promoted. The as-obtained TCF exhibited an outstanding thermal stability as for heaters, which is better than the Ag NW/metal oxide and Ag NW/carbon nanotube hybrid structures. What’s more, the heaters of thermoplastic polyurethanes (TPU)/Ag NW/hydrogel sandwich structure were also fabricated, the performance indicated that the heaters can be used in heating suit and healthcare. We believed that this work can provide a facile method for the preparation of TCF with good practicability.

Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) are directly grown on surface of ∼25 μm copper wire by ultrasound-assisted chemical reduction. Silver nitrate is used as precursors, when polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) is added as a controller of the dimension of AgNPs. Influence of growth parameters such as precursor’s concentration, ratio proportion of PVP and ultra-sonication on the growth of AgNPs coating are determined. The best morphology, size of the AgNPs are observed on copper wire. The results show that the copper wire coated with AgNPs of ∼100 nm diameter exhibits good antioxidation and ohmic contact after sinter on Si substrate at a temperature as low as 320 °C, is especially suitable as a substitute for silver paste electrode used in silicon solar cells.

In this study, we report a large-scale and facile synthetic method for silver nanoparticles via a microwave method, which is quite time-saving and efficient. The obtained silver nanoparticles maintained a uniform size, and the average size was less than 20 nm although the concentration of the silver source was very high. The obtained silver nanoparticles could be homogeneously dispersed in deionized water, which was beneficial for the fabrication of the conductive ink. For large-scale industrialization, the synthetic process window was widened to a great extent via a series of experiments. We injected the ink into a blank mark pen to fabricate a conductive pen, via which the tracks drawn on the photo paper could immediately become conductive at room temperature with an electrical conductivity of 2.4 μΩ cm (about 1.5 times that of the bulk Ag). The mechanical properties of the tracks were examined for a twistable application. After bending at a radius of 4 mm and 2 mm for 5000 circles, only a slight increase in their resistance of 1.20 and 1.78 relative to their initial resistance, respectively, was observed. The as-prepared conductive ink and fabricated pen have potential applications in flexible electronics.

In this paper, hybrid transparent conductive films (TCFs) are designed by combining silver nanowires with the single-wall carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) and the transparent heating films (THFs) based on the TCFs are evaluated for possible vehicle applications. By comparing the properties, including the transmittance, sheet resistance, microstructure and heating curves, we found that the SWCNTs/AgNWs are considerably suitable for making THFs. The after-treatment methods, such as physical method (hot roll pressing) and chemical method (nitric acid and Poly (diallydimethylammonium chloride) solution, (PDAC)) were researched in detail to optimize the sheet resistance and transparency to fit the THF requirements. A careful study of the different after-treatment methods revealed that hot roll pressing can quickly and efficiently improve the properties, while the nitric acid is more helpful than PDAC for the long-term stability. The results showed that a small amount of SWCNTs addition can promote the endurable maximum electric current by spreading the heat fast and efficiently, and the maximum current flow can be as high as 4 A. The thermal stability of the THFs and the de-frog performance were tested, indicating that the hybrid film had an advantage in resisting current shock and good thermal efficiency was obtained. The fabricated TCFs of stable thermal properties are qualified as a windshield-glass heater.

In order to improve the catalytic efficiency of titanium dioxide (TiO2) under visible light, TiO2 nanoparticles was composed with the silver-covered carbon nanotubes (CA) to form CNTs-Ag-TiO2 (CAT) ternary structure via in situ reduction combined with sol-gel method. The composite was characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), diffuse reflectance spectra (DRS) and photoluminescence (PL) spectra. Using methylene blue (MB) as the model pollutant, photocatalytic activity of CAT was studied to investigate the influence of the composited amount of CA on the effect of photocatalysis. The results revealed that the photocatalytic activity of TiO2 under both visible light and UV light were improved by compositing with CA. When the mass ratio of CA is 15%, the degradation rare of methylene blue (MB) by CAT reached to 80.8% under visible light in 3 h, which is 16.5 times higher than that of TiO2. Accordingly, the degradation rate reached to 99.2% under UV light in 40 min, which is nearly twice as fast as that of TiO2.

A facile synthesis method was developed to prepare the particle-free silver organic conductive ink, which contains silver-amide complex dispersed in glycol. Electrical and morphological characterizations were carried out to assess the performance of the ink. The patterns printed by a commercial inkjet printer (Epson R230) were treated at different temperatures and time to optimize the electrical and adhesion properties. The film sintered at 140 °C for 40 min showed a low electrical resistivity (about 5 μΩ∙cm) owing to the transformation of point contact to surface contact. These good performances indicated a penitential application in flexible electronics.

The important influence of cations and anions, such as Fe3+, Cu2+, H+, Na+, K+, Cl−, SO4 2− and NO3 − from control agents on the growth of silver nanowires (AgNWs) by polyol method are seriously studied. The products with silver nanostructures are characterized by field emission scanning electron microscopy, ultraviolet–visible spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction. The effect of slow release of Ag+, low value of solubility product constant due to anions and decrease in surface oxidation etching effect due to cations on silver nanostructures are discussed. The results demonstrate that strong oxidative activeness of cation makes a greater contribution to high purity of AgNWs, especially with the aid of Cl−. This work provides a simple, efficient and controllable method for high-yield production of long AgNWs.