Abstract
The enhancement of bendability of flexible nanoelectronics is critically important to realize future portable and wearable nanoelectronics for personal and military purposes. Because there is an enormous variety of materials and structures that are used for flexible nanoelectronic devices, a governing design rule for optimizing the bendability of these nanodevices is required. In this article, we suggest a design rule to optimize the bendability of flexible nanoelectronics through neutral axis (NA) engineering. In flexible optical nanoelectronics, transparent electrodes such as indium tin oxide (ITO) are usually the most fragile under an external load because of their brittleness. Therefore, we representatively focus on the bendability of ITO which has been widely used as transparent electrodes, and the NA is controlled by employing a buffer layer on the ITO layer. First, we independently investigate the effect of the thickness and elastic modulus of a buffer layer on the bendability of an ITO film. Then, we develop a design rule for the bendability optimization of flexible optical nanoelectronics. Because NA is determined by considering both the thickness and elastic modulus of a buffer layer, the design rule is conceived to be applicable regardless of the material and thickness that are used for the buffer layer. Finally, our design rule is applied to optimize the bendability of an organic solar cell, which allows the bending radius to reach about 1 mm. Our design rule is thus expected to provide a great strategy to enhance the bending performance of a variety of flexible nanoelectronics.
Original language | English |
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Article number | 256 |
Journal | Nanoscale Research Letters |
Volume | 7 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2012 |
Externally published | Yes |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:This work was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) grant funded by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (MEST) (Nos. 2010–0029120 and 2010–0018457), the Basic Science Research Program through the NRF funded by the MEST (2011–0008589), and a grant (Code No. 2011–0032154) from the Center for Advanced Soft Electronics under the Global Frontier Research Program of MEST. DC also acknowledges the financial supports by the Energy International Collaboration Research & Development Program of the Korea Institute of Energy Technology Evaluation and Planning (KETEP) funded by the Ministry of Knowledge Economy (MKE) (2011–8520010050) and by the Business for Cooperative R&D between Industry, Academy, and Research Institute funded Korea Small and Medium Business Administration in 2011 (Grant No. 48401).
Keywords
- Bendability optimization
- Buffer layer
- Flexible optical nanoelectronics
- Neutral axis engineering
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- General Materials Science
- Condensed Matter Physics