Mechanically robust polymer encapsulation material for polymer electronics
Abstract
Organic electronic devices are prone to environmental and operational degradation over an extended duration. Addressing their environmental instabilities remains an important issue. Previous reports mainly employed encapsulation strategies of encasing the entire device with low water-permeability polymer, inorganic or composites barriers. However, the mechanical mismatch of the composite materials can result in failure and performance degradation upon deformation of the device. Polymer encapsulation strategies with mechanical robust interfaces that can tolerate strain due to repeated bending and folding are lacking. Stretchable polymers tend to have higher moisture and oxygen diffusion rates due to their less dense amorphous morphology compared to dense crystalline polymers, which makes them both non-ideal encapsulation coatings. In this project, we will investigate a new approach for polymer electronic device encapsulation. We propose the preparation of surface-tethering of nanostructured molecular protective layer (MPL) to achieve highly stable and mechanically robust layers that can be incorporated into polymer and polymer composite materials for long-term use in harsh environments. MPLs will bear a stretchable interface with low water/air permeability whilst remaining an ultrathin coating, resulting in the next generation of barrier coatings.MPL encapsulation strategy is simple and versatile and enables high environmental stability and reliable long-term operation of polymeric electronic devices towards next generation barriers. MPL is especially advantageous for stretchable electronics applications. Due to the significantly lower water permeability as compared to stretchable elastomers, the device thickness can be largely reduced. Our proposed work in developing high-performance mechanically robust encapsulation materials will have important impact on lightweight organic solar cells, organic electronics, organic light emitting diodes, organic photodiodes, wearable electronics and flexible batteries that are of great interest for Navy missions. A fundamental understanding of nanoscale morphology control and tuning will advance our knowledge on their impact on moisture and oxygen blocking and transport. Our initial success provides us a unique opportunity to develop a new type of encapsulation material that is scalable and highly versatile that will be of practical interest.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- May 15, 2023
- Source ID
- N000142312446
Entities
People
- Zhenan Bao
Organizations
- Office of Naval Research
- Stanford University
- United States Navy