Facilitated embedding of silver nanowires into conformally-coated iCVD polymer films deposited on cloth for robust wearable electronics

Abstract

We propose that a silver nanowire (AgNW)-embedded conducting film can be monolithically applied onto an arbitrary cloth with strong adhesion and environmental stability. We employ a vapor-phase method, initiated chemical vapor deposition (iCVD), for conformal coating of a scaffold polymer film on the cloth. AgNWs are applied on the surface of iCVD polymer films, and the embedding of AgNWs is completed within only 20 s on heating the polymer-coated cloth to 70 °C. Crosslinking the copolymer at 120 °C renders the AgNW-embedded conducting films on the cloth not only thermally and chemically stable, but also mechanically robust. Moreover, when a hydrophobic encapsulating polymer layer is added on the AgNW-embedded film via iCVD, it substantially improves the stability of the cloth against thermal oxidation under hot and humid conditions, showing applicability of the technology to wearable electronics. With these robust conducting films, we demonstrate the fabrication of a waterproof cloth-based heater and circuit for a seven-segment display, thus, confirming the wide applicability of the technology developed in this study.