Highly elastic and transparent multiwalled carbon nanotube/polydimethylsiloxane bilayer films as electric heating materials

Highlights: • MWCNT/PDMS bilayer films were prepared by spin-coating and thermal curing. • The bilayer films are highly elastic, transparent and conductive. • The bilayer films exhibit rapid temperature response and high electric power efficiency. • The bilayer films have excellent electric heating performance even under high mechanical deformations. - Abstract: Highly elastic and transparent bilayer films composed of MWCNT and polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) layers were fabricated by spin-coating of MWCNT aqueous solution on glass plates and following curing of PDMS applied on the MWCNT layer. Morphological feature, optical transparency, tensile property, electrical property, and electric heating behavior of the bilayer films with different MWCNT layer thicknesses of 65–185 nm were investigated. SEM images confirmed that pristine MWCNTs were uniformly deposited on glass substrates and the PDMS layer was combined well with the MWCNT layer, resulting in high structural stability of the bilayer films to high elongational or twisting deformations. With the increase of the thickness of the MWCNT layer, the sheet resistance of the bilayer films decreased substantially from ~ 10⁵ Ω/sq to ~ 10³ Ω/sq, in addition to the change of the optical transmittance from ~ 75% to ~ 40% at a 550 nm wavelength. The electric heating behavior of MWCNT/PDMS bilayer films was strongly dependent on the thickness of the MWCNT layer as well as the applied voltage. Even under high twisting by 540° or continuous stepwise voltage changes for long periods of time, the MWCNT/PDMS bilayer films retained stable electrical heating performance in aspects of temperature responsiveness, steady-state maximum temperature, and electric power efficiency.