Nickel-enhanced silver nanowire-based transparent heater with large size

Abstract

An effective process for homogeneous electrodeposition of nickel was developed to improve the performance of silver nanowire-based transparent heaters (AgNW-THs). After electroplating Ni, the silver nanowires are uniformly coated by a layer Ni with 20–40 nm thickness, which has a small effect on the device transmittance, but significantly enhances its conductivity. Most excitingly, the nickel shell leads to a great increase of the temperature toleration of the AgNW-THs. A transparent tubular heater with large size of 3 cm in diameter and 20 cm in length is successfully fabricated, showing excellent heating properties in that the steady-state temperature can reach 284.3 °C and there is minimal variance in temperature after 10 heating cycles, and by using this tube, red Cu powder was oxidized into black CuO in a short time, which was visually observed. Additionally, two other shapes of transparent heaters with large size were constructed for dehydration of CuSO₄·5H₂O and burning of red phosphorus, respectively. This kind of transparent heater has wide applications requiring high transmittance, excellent temperature toleration and large size, especially for teaching experiment apparatus in a visual model.