V. GRM et al.: A CARBON-NANOTUBES-BASED HEATING FABRIC COMPOSITE ...
761–768
A CARBON-NANOTUBES-BASED HEATING FABRIC COMPOSITE
FOR AUTOMOTIVE APPLICATIONS
TKANINA S KOMPOZITNO PREVLEKO NA OSNOVI OGLJIKOVIH
NANOCEVK ZA SEGREVANJE AVTOMOBILSKIH SEDE@EV
Vinko Grm
1,2
, Daniela Zavec
3
, Goran Dra`i}
2,4*
1
ETRA d.o.o., Svetelka 5, 3222 Dramlje, Slovenia
2
Jo`ef Stefan International Postgraduate School, Jamova 39, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia
3
Titera d.o.o., Mondova 59, 2212 Šentilj v Slovenskih Goricah, Slovenia
4
National Institute of Chemistry, Hajdrihova 19, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia
Prejem rokopisa – received: 2019-10-04; sprejem za objavo – accepted for publication: 2020-07-15
doi:10.17222/mit.2019.238
The preparation and properties of a composite fabric material containing carbon nanotubes and polyaniline with a suitable elec-
trical conductivity to be potentially used as a resistive heating element in car seats are reported. Three different materials that
are the most commonly used fabrics in cars, i.e., leather, cotton canvas and artificial leather, were screen-printed on the bottom
side of the fabric with flexible and highly conductive single-wall carbon nanotubes and polyaniline-containing coatings. The
thickness and accordingly the electrical conductivity of the coatings were tailored with the number of screen-printed layers. The
conductivity was explained with the percolation model, where the percolation threshold was found to be at 8 screen-printed lay-
ers. The morphology and uniformity of the coatings were studied with electron-microscopy techniques. Long interconnected
bundles of carbon nanotubes and polyaniline fibres made possible a suitable electrical conductivity, even when the fabric was
stretched. When heated, the temperature distribution across the surface was measured with an IR camera and was uniform to
within a few degrees centigrade. Samples of the prepared fabric material enabled uniform heating up to 50 °C within two min-
utes using around 3W of electrical power.
Keywords: single-wall carbon nanotubes, polyaniline, electrically conductive fabrics, heating textiles
V delu je opisana priprava in lastnostih tkanine z elektri~no prevodno prevleko na osnovi kompozita z enostenskimi ogljikovimi
nanocevkami in polianilinskimi vlakni za segrevanje avtomobilskih sede`ev. Kot osnovo smo uporabili tri najbolj raz{irjene
tkanine v avtomobilski industriji, pravo usnje, bomba`no platno in umetno usnje, na katere smo s spodnje strani s sitotiskom
nanesli kompozitno prevleko. Debelino prevleke in s tem tudi elektri~no prevodnost smo uravnavali s {tevilom posameznih
nanosov. Ugotovili smo, da se prevodnost da opisati s perkolacijskim modelom, kjer je bil perkolacijski prag pri 8 nanosih.
Morfologijo in enakomernost nanosov smo raziskovali z razli~nimi metodami elektronske mikroskopije. Dolgi, med seboj
prepletajo~i snopi~i ogljikovih nanocevk in polianilinskih vlaken so omogo~ili zadostno elektri~no prevodnost tudi v primeru
raztezka tkanine. Hitrost in enakomernost segrevanja smo zasledovali z IR kamero, vzorci so se relativno enakomerno segreli do
50 °C v ~asu dveh minut pri 3 W elektri~ne mo~i.
Klju~ne besede: enostenske ogljikove nanocevke, polianilin, elektri~no prevodne tkanine, tekstilije za ogrevanje
1 INTRODUCTION
Environmental requirements in recent decades have
led to intensive research in the area of minimizing
energy consumption. In the field of transport, electrical
vehicles are one of the possibilities to reduce the carbon
footprint and there are numerous studies regarding their
efficiency.
1
In many parts around the globe, where
winters can be quite long and cold, heated seats in cars
are one of the major electric energy consumers, and
consequently there is an accelerated research and
development of new materials and approaches that would
be more energy efficient.
2
The development of cars and other motorized
vehicles (trucks and busses) in the next 10 years will be
focused on zero-emission and increased safety that will
require the use of intelligent materials for different
sensors, actuators and functional assemblies that will
enable new and demanding functions.
3
The microclimate
control in cars also becomes an issue of the car’s safety
because properties such as the temperature, temperature
gradient, humidity, air quality, etc. inside the cabin have
an influence on the attention and comfort of the driver or
passengers. The heating of car seats has thus become
standard equipment in most, even lower-priced, cars.
4
Car-seat heating is nowadays realized through the use
of discrete resistive elements based on metal wires or
carbon fibers.
5
The consumption of electrical energy is
relatively high and might be a problem in the case of
electric cars used in cold weather, where the perform-
ance of Li-ion batteries is also reduced. In recent years,
there have been many reports of using conductive films
based on carbon nanotubes as heating elements, but they
are still in the prototype phase.
2,6–8
The increased
efficiency of such heating is due to a better contact
between the heating area and the driver or passenger,
smaller electrical currents, lower heat capacity and the
Materiali in tehnologije / Materials and technology 54 (2020) 6, 761–768 761
UDK 67.017:621.791.725:669.715 ISSN 1580-2949
Original scientific article/Izvirni znanstveni ~lanek MTAEC9, 54(6)761(2020)
*Corresponding author's e-mail:
goran.drazic@ki.si (Goran Dra`i})

time required to reach the desired temperature and com-
fort level.
Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have a relatively high
electrical conductivity, so integrated with textile ma-
terials they can be used as electromagnetic shields
9,10
and
heating elements.
11,12
The preparation of conductive
coatings using techniques such as dip-coating, screen
printing, spraying or ink-jet printing is not complicated
and technologically demanding. In composite materials
using different volumes of conductive material mixed
with the nonconductive matrix, so that the system is over
the percolation threshold1
3,14,15
the electrical conductivity
can be tailored. Recently, it has been found that electrical
currents in carbon nanotubes (and graphene) can couple
to the vibrational modes of neighboring material, heating
it remotely, meaning that carbon nanotubes are not
heated directly, they just induce the heating of the
matrix.
16
In order to evenly distribute the heat over the body-
contact area of the automotive seats we planned to apply
the heating coatings to the bottom of the textile over the
whole sitting area of the seat. In this work we report on
the fabrication and properties of heating fabric material
covered with carbon single-walled nanotubes based on a
composite coating using screen printing. Different for-
mulations and additives, like highly electrical conductive
polyaniline fibers and silver nanoparticles, were studied.
Silver was added to improve the antibacterial charac-
teristics of the material. Composite coatings were
applied to three different fabric materials that are com-
monly used in car-seat production, i.e., leather, cotton
canvas and artificial leather. The electrical conductivity
and consequently the heating properties were tailored
with the thickness (number) of the coatings. The
electrical properties were measured as a function of the
tensile strain that those materials are usually exposed to
during their use. Heating rate and temperature uniformity
over the whole heated area were also studied.
2 EXPERIMENTAL PART
Three materials, commonly used as car-seat covers,
i.e., real leather, cotton canvas and artificial leather, were
selected and prepared for further experiments and
testing. The properties of the materials are summarized
in Table 1 and the optical micrographs of the top-sur-
faces are presented in Figure 1. The producers of the
materials were Bedsi, Italy in the case of leather,
Creative Company, Denmark for cotton canvas and Sava
Kranj, Slovenia for artificial leather.
The ultimate tensile strength and strain at the
breaking point of the studied fabrics was measured on
2.5 cm × 20 cm samples using an Instron 5567 tensile
and compression tester (Norwood, MA, USA).
The basic approach for heating the fabric preparation
was screen printing of a single-wall carbon nanotube
(SWCNT)-based layer with suitable electrical, thermal
and mechanical properties on the back side of commonly
used fabrics. Pure SWCNT-based coatings did not have
suitable electro-thermal properties. To improve the
electrical conductivity, polyaniline was added to the
carbon nanotubes. Polyaniline is a polymer with a high
electrical conductivity and belongs to the group of
conductive polymers that are sometimes called "organic
metal" because their electrical conductivity is similar to
copper or silver.
17
They have interchangeable double and
single bonds in the molecule, i.e., conjugated double
bonds. When the polymer with conjugated double bonds
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762 Materiali in tehnologije / Materials and technology 54 (2020) 6, 761–768
Table 1: Some properties of the selected materials used in the study, A – longitudinal and B – transversal direction
Material
Surface mass
(g/m
2
)
Thickness
(mm)
Ultimate tensile strength
(MPa)
Tensile strain at the breaking
point (%)
ABAB
1 Leather 640.1 0.98 20.8 20.5 56.7 49.7
2 Cotton canvas 320.0 0.43 18.9 34.2 14.8 15.1
3 Artificial leather 680.0 0.91 5.6 4.2 27.3 70.9
Figure 1: Optical micrographs of fabric samples surfaces. Marker represents 2 mm. 1 – leather, 2 – cotton canvas, 3 – artificial leather

is oxidized, the electron holes are generated which,
under the influence of external electrical field, move
through  -electron orbital conjugated double bonds.
18
A
small quantity of nano-sized silver particles was also
added in some compositions to improve the anti-bacterial
properties of the fabric.
Optimized suspensions used for screen printing of the
coatings contained besides 15 w/% of carbon nanotubes
5 w/% of polyaniline (Sigma Aldrich, USA) and silver
nanoparticles (0–1 %, Ferro GmbH, Hanau, Germany),
all dispersed in ethoxypropyl acetate based adhesive
binder (80 w/%, Eco Plastigloss, series FPT, Sirpi SRL,
Milano, Italy).
Among the carbon nanotubes we tested, the
TUBALL Matrix 201 single-wall CNT (OCSiAl, Leude-
lange, Luxembourg) were found to give the best results.
The characteristics of the carbon nanotubes TUBALL
Matrix are listed in Table 2.
Table 2: Properties of Tuball Matrix 201 single-wall CNT used in the
study
Description Unit Value Method used
Carbon content volume % 85 TGA
Carbon nanotubes
(CNTs)
volume % 75 TGA
Number of walls 1–2 TEM
Outer diameter CNT nm 1–2 RAMAN, TEM
Aspect ratio 50+ RAMAN, TEM
Impurities (metals) volume % 15 EDX, TGA
BET surface m
2
/g 400 BET
Figure 2 displays TEM micrographs of single-wall
carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) and polyaniline fibers used
in this study. The black, spherical, 10-nm-sized nano-
particles are iron, most probably used as a catalyst in the
synthesis of the carbon nanotubes.
The coating procedure was carried out with industrial
screen printers (models Fusion and Chameleon, M&R,
Roselle, IL, USA) on samples 20 cm × 20 cm in size.
The gradation of the sieves was adjusted to the viscosity
of the suspension. Different numbers of successive print-
ings (layers, 1 to 14) were applied in order to tailor the
desired electrical properties.
For electrical and temperature measurements an elec-
tronic measuring system was set-up (Figure 3). The
applied (direct current) voltages used were in the range
up to 28 V, the contacts with the impregnated fabric were
realized as two sets of 10-cm-long copper ribbons where
the fabric was fixed in between. Besides the electrical
current measurements a set of six temperature sensors
(resistance temperature detectors – RTD) were uniformly
set over the heated area of the fabric and the tempera-
tures were simultaneously measured as a function of
time.
In a separate set-up the temperature distribution over
the heated area as a function of time was monitored with
an IR camera (model E6, Flir systems, Wilsonville, OR,
USA).
The influence of tensile stress (resulting in elongation
of the samples) on electrical properties was measured
with a set-up where 20 cm × 20 cm fabric samples were
fixed on one end and stretched on the other end with a
simultaneous measurement of the electrical current and
the tensile force using a dynamometer.
Microstructural investigations were carried on a Jeol
ARM 200 CF Cs-probe corrected scanning transmission
electron microscope and FEI Helios Nanolab 650i
dual-beam FIB system.
3 RESULTS
3.1 Microstructure of the surface coatings
After screen printing the surface of the sample fabric
material was examined with a FIB (SEM). In Figure 4
the coated surface of the cotton canvas (14 layers ob-
tained with 14 successive screen-printing steps) is
displayed at different magnifications. The roughness of
the surface originated from the base material. There is a
substantial amount of pores, which enables the "breath-
ability" of the textile. At higher magnification it can be
noticed that bundles of SWCNT are interconnected and
forming loops.
V. GRM et al.: A CARBON-NANOTUBES-BASED HEATING FABRIC COMPOSITE ...
Materiali in tehnologije / Materials and technology 54 (2020) 6, 761–768 763
Figure 3: Experimental set-up for electrical and thermal measure-
ments. 1 – tested fabric material, 2 – electrical contacts, 3 – outputs of
6 thermal sensors, 4 – programmable voltage generator,5–A / D
converter (temperature and current measurements), 6 – backup volt-
meter, 7 – computer recording all data, 8 – second monitor displaying
measured values
Figure 2: TEM micrographs of: a) bundles of single-wall carbon
nanotubes (SWCNTs) and b) polyaniline fibres used in the present
study

To improve the anti-bacterial properties of the fabric
we also prepared the composition where 1 w/% of silver
nanoparticles was added. From the SEM images (Fig-
ure 5) it was concluded that silver nanoparticles are
forming up to 200-nm-sized aggregates, which are
uniformly distributed over the entire surface.
The thickness of the coatings (after 10 successive
screen-printings) was around 2 μm, as determined by
FIB cross-sectioning (Figure 6). We can estimate that
the average thickness of one coating is around 200 nm,
individual coatings and interfaces between cannot be
seen, indicating that the individual layers are firmly
bound together. The Pt layer at the top of CNT coatings
is used for surface protection during the FIB cross-
sectioning.
3.2 Electrical and thermal properties
3.2.1 Percolation model of electrical conductivity
It was expected that the electrical conductivity of our
system should follow a percolation model, so we first
performed a study of the influence of the number of
layers (number of successive screen-printing procedures)
on the electrical conductivity. In Figure 7 the diagram of
sheet conductivity vs. number of layers is displayed. The
shape of the curve is characteristic for percolation where
we estimated that the percolation threshold is at around 8
layers. The measurements of electrical current were
performed on 20 cm × 20 cm samples at 24 V with a
setup described earlier. Crossing the percolation thres-
hold we observed 2 to 5 folds increase in the sheet con-
ductivity.
In the next experiments we tested the linearity of the
current vs. voltage. We performed measurements on all
three fabric materials (with 14 layers) as shown in
Figure 8. In all cases samples approximately obey
Ohm’s law. From the slope of the lines we calculated the
V. GRM et al.: A CARBON-NANOTUBES-BASED HEATING FABRIC COMPOSITE ...
764 Materiali in tehnologije / Materials and technology 54 (2020) 6, 761–768
Figure 6: SEM micrograph of FIB cross-section of cotton canvas
coated with ten CNT-based coatings. Pt layer was deposited at the top
surface as a protective layer before X-sectioning with Ga ions
Figure 4: SEM micrographs of cotton canvas sample impregnated
with SWCNT and polyaniline-based coating. Surface of canvas is
uniformly covered with the composite material. Some pores in the
coating are also present (a, b). Long CNT bundles are interconnected
and forming loops (c, d)
Figure 7: Diagram of sheet conductivity vs. number of layers in sam-
ples used for estimation of percolation threshold, measured at 24 V
Figure 5: SEM micrographs of cotton canvas impregnated with
SWCNT, polyaniline and nanoparticles of silver. Nanoparticles are
forming small aggregates (indicated by arrows) which are
more-or-less uniformly distributed over the surface. Inset is a detail of
Ag aggregate consisting of 20–50-nm-sized spherical silver nano-
particles

sheet conductivity (in mS) and found that the best
conductors are the samples based on leather and cotton
canvas.
3.2.2 Electrical conductivity at tensile strain
In order to obtain the results that correspond to the
realistic conditions at which car seats are used, we
performed electrical conductivity measurements of the
fabrics under a tensile load. The results are given in
Figure 9 and Figure 10 for the cotton-canvas-based
fabric.
A special set-up was made on which we were able to
load the fabric with a tensile force of up to 400 N. With
increasing tensile force we observed as expected, up to
6 % elongation of the samples and reduction of the sheet
conductivity. The force–elongation curve shown in
Figure 9 has a typical J-shape that is characteristic for
cotton fabric and biological tissues and is similar to the
stress-strain curves of the elastomeric polymers.
19,20
The results of the sheet conductivity measurements at
tensile stress showed that despite the load the electrical
conductivity is still present and consequently the heating
of textile samples is still enabled.
After the applied tensile load, we examined the
cotton material in detail and found that some defects in
the material could be observed, while the basic function-
ality of the materials stayed unchanged.
3.2.3 Heating rate
To test the heating rate a constant voltage was applied
to the cotton canvas textile with 14 printed layers. Fig-
ure 11 represents the diagram of temperature vs heating
time where sample was heated with 24 V at approxim-
ately 120 mA. The temperature was measured at 6
different points on the surface of the sample as a func-
tion of time and the plotted temperature is the average of
all 6 measured points. The temperature of 50 °C can be
achieved within 2 min with an approximate heating rate
of 15 °C per minute. Using the reported condition the
heating did not reach the temperature saturation, so some
kind of temperature controller should be used to prevent
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Materiali in tehnologije / Materials and technology 54 (2020) 6, 761–768 765
Figure 10: Sheet conductivity vs. strain force for cotton canvas with
14 layers measured at 12 V
Figure 8: Electric current as a function of applied voltage for samples
with 14 layers. Samples size was 20×20 cm. Numbers beside the
curves are the calculated sheet conductivity in mS
Figure 11: Average temperature vs. time measured with 6 uniformly
distributed sensors on the surface of the cotton canvas sample with 14
layers. Heating current was 120 mA at 24 V Figure 9: Tensile force – strain curve for cotton canvas sample

overheating. Using screen- or inkjet-printing techniques
temperature sensors could be printed directly to the heat-
ing surface and used as a feedback for the temperature
control unit.
21
3.2.4 Temperature distribution on heated area
One of the important parameters in the potential
practical use of this type of heating textile is the
uniformity of the temperature on the surface. Using
calibrated IR camera the temperature gradients on the
surface of cotton canvas sample during the heating
procedure was studied.
From the IR images of the surface (Figure 12)w e
followed the gradual heating of the samples. At the first
stage of heating the distribution is not uniform, the
sample started to heat intensively near the electrical
contacts, in the intermediate stage the peak temperatures
are starting to reach the interior of the sample and at the
final stage the temperature is more-or-less uniform
(within a few °C) in the heated area. Based on the results
of these experiments, we concluded that it is important
that the electrical contacts (electrodes) are large enough
and extending across the edges of the whole sample.
4 DISCUSSION
To lower the overall consumption of energy in
electric cars, more efficient seat-heating systems than
metal-wires-based discrete heating elements used today
is needed. Using heating fabric in direct contact with the
driver or passengers would be more efficient due to
lower heat capacity, better thermal conductivity and
lower working temperature. The main idea of the work
was to screen print highly electrically conductive com-
posite layer based on carbon nanotubes on the back
surface of commercially used fabrics. Such coatings
should enable good electrical contact, even during tensile
strain of the fabric. As the base fabrics we used three
commercially available materials, i.e., genuine leather,
cotton canvas and artificial leather, which are normally
used in the car industry.
Literature data show suitable conductivity in multi-
walled CNT-epoxy composite films to heat a 7-μm-thick
composite to around 100 °C using voltages up to 90 V.
22
In car applications the usual voltage used is 12 V or
24 V, so the conductivity reported in the literature is not
high enough. To increase the conductivity we added
highly conductive polyaniline fibers.
17
The thickness and
specific conductivity of the composite coating was tail-
ored in the way that using these two voltages the tem-
perature achieved would be in the range of 30–50 °C.
The results from the microstructural investigation
revealed that coatings have some degree of porosity
(Figures 4 and 5) that would enable gas permeability
(breathability) and that SWCNT are arranged in
interconnecting curved bundles that would conduct
electricity, even when stretched, which we confirmed
with the experiments presented in Figure 9 and Fig-
ure 10. The thickness of the coatings depends on the
number of screen-printed layers (Figure 6) and influ-
enced strongly the specific electrical conductivity of the
fabric. The relation between the number of coatings and
the electrical conductivity under a constant potential of
24 V obeys a percolation model, where 8 coatings were
found to be the percolation threshold (Figure 7). All
three fabrics used with optimized conductivity exhibit a
linear dependence between the electrical current and the
voltage used (Ohm’s law, Figure 8).
A 10×20 cm area of a 20×20 cm sample with an
approximate mass of 15 g could be heated from 15 °C to
50 °C within 2 min with a uniform heating rate of 15 °C
per minute at 120 mA current (Figure 10). This means
around 2.5 Wh of electrical energy is needed to heat 1 m
2
of cotton canvas fabrics, which is approximately the
contact area of all car seats in a compact car. The surface
temperature distribution during the first minute of
heating is not uniform, the most heated areas are in the
vicinity of the electrical contacts, but after two minutes
of heating the temperature distribution is relatively
uniform, within a few degrees centigrade (Figure 12).
For practical use, new materials in the car industry
have to conform to strict regulation, such as low
flammability (determination of this property is described
V. GRM et al.: A CARBON-NANOTUBES-BASED HEATING FABRIC COMPOSITE ...
766 Materiali in tehnologije / Materials and technology 54 (2020) 6, 761–768
Figure 12: Temperature distribution during the heating (time in seconds) observed with an IR camera. Sample of cotton canvas (20 cm × 20 cm)
with 14 SWCNT-based layers was heated using 24 V and electrical current of 130 mA. Electrodes, made of two 10-cm-long copper ribbons were
positioned from the sides, as schematically shown in the image.

for instance in ISO 3795 standard) and low toxicity.
Because the basic material used in the study already
meets the requirements of such regulations and the
additional highly electrical conductive coating is added
in very small quantities (less than 0.5 w/% in areas where
it is applied) we can assume that the flammability of the
whole fabric will not increase. Besides that, there are
literature data showing that the composite where the
matrix polymer used was poly(methylmethacrylate)
(PMMA) with the addition of just 0.5 w/% of SWCNTs
exhibits lowering of flammability in terms of heat
release rate (HRR) by around 50 %.
23
Although systematic studies of single-walled CNTs’
toxicity are still lacking
24
there are undoubted proofs that
carbon nanotubes are toxic to humans and animals. In
this sense the synthesis procedure was chosen in a way
that a suspension of SWCNT is used (to minimize the
airborne nanoparticles) and for the potential commercial
use of the heating fabrics based on carbon nanotubes
some additional protective layer should be used.
5 CONCLUSIONS
The composite fabrics of genuine leather, cotton
canvas and artificial leather were coated on the back side
with single-wall carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) and
polyaniline-fibres-based coatings by screen-printing as a
potential electrical heating element used for automotive
applications. It was found that at least 10 layers of
coatings should be applied to the surface to exceed the
percolation threshold with a total thickness of around
2 μm. From the SEM images we concluded that the
SWCNTs were uniformly distributed over the surface,
forming criss-crossed bundles enabling suitable elec-
trical conductivity also in stretched material under
tensile forces. Using moderate voltages and electrical
currents (typically 12–24 V and 50–150 mA) we were
able to heat the samples to 50 °C within two minutes.
The material has a great potential to be used in car seats
as a heating fabric. Comparing to classic discrete metal
or carbon wire heating elements, such fabric will more
uniformly heat the body contact seat areas, will have
much lower heat capacity and will consume less elec-
trical energy, which is a critical parameter in battery-
driven vehicles. The aim of this work was to prove the
concept of direct application of heating layers on the
bottom of fabrics used in automotive applications. Be-
fore the practical use of the material the potential mecha-
nical damage and toxicity due to wear should be solved
with additional protective layers. To control the desired
temperature, additional electrical control units should be
developed, possibly with the integration of fabric with
printed temperature sensors.
Acknowledgement
Authors wish to thank assist. prof. dr. Dunja Sajn
Gorjanc from University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Natural
Sciences and Engineering, Department of Textile,
Graphics and Design for the mechanical testing of the
fabric materials. Financial support from Slovenian
Research Agency (ARRS) under the program P2-0393 is
gratefully acknowledged.
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