Work

Development of a Flexible and Conductive Heating Membrane via BSA-Assisted Electroless Plating on Electrospun PVDF-HFP Nanofibers

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: Planar heaters are designed to deliver uniform heat across broad surfaces and serve as critical components in applications requiring energy efficiency, safety, and mechanical flexibility, such as wearable electronics and smart textiles. However, conventional metal-based heaters are limited by poor adaptability to curved or complex surfaces, low mechanical compliance, and susceptibility to oxidation-induced degradation. To overcome these challenges, we applied a protein-assisted electroless copper (Cu) plating strategy to electrospun poly(vinylidene fluoride-co-hexafluoropropylene) (PVDF-HFP) nanofiber substrates to fabricate flexible, conductive planar heating membranes. For interfacial functionalization, a protein-based engineering approach using bovine serum albumin (BSA) was employed to facilitate palladium ion coordination and seed formation. The resulting membrane exhibited a dense, continuous Cu coating, low sheet resistance, excellent durability under mechanical deformation, and stable heating performance at low voltages. These results demonstrate that the BSA-assisted strategy can be effectively extended to complex three-dimensional fibrous membranes, supporting its scalability and practical potential for next-generation conformal and wearable planar heaters.

Source: Applied Sciences

DOI: 10.3390/app15148023

Authors: Mun Jeong Choi, Dae Hyeob Yoon, Yoo Sei Park, Hyoryung Nam, Geon Hwee Kim

Institutions: Chungbuk National University, Pusan National University, Daegu Catholic University

Language: English

Topic: Electrodeposition and Electroless Coatings

Subfield: Electrical and Electronic Engineering

Field: Engineering

Domain: Physical Sciences

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $2,896

Funder: National Research Foundation of Korea