A cracked polymer templated Ag network for flexible transparent electrodes and heaters

In this work, an Ag metal network was fabricated on PET substrate using crackle lithography with acrylic based colloidal dispersion as sacrificial material. The effect of acrylic concentration on optical and electrical properties of Ag electrodes was investigated systematically. All of the Ag electrodes exhibited a high average transmittance of about 74.5%–79.9% in the visible range, and the minimum sheet resistance value reached 8.9 Ω/. The Ag mesh also showed an excellent mechanical stability for both tensile strain and compressive strain. The fabricated Ag mesh transparent heater exhibited higher heating temperatures (~95 °C) with lower input voltage (~6 V), shorter response time (T < 40 s), and lower power consumption (126.9 °C cm2 W−1). Potential application of the Ag mesh based transparent heater in window defogging was also successfully demonstrated.