2025-09-09 ブラウン大学
＜関連情報＞
- https://www.brown.edu/news/2025-09-09/tougher-flexible-electronics
- https://www.nature.com/articles/s41528-025-00470-z
フレキシブル電子デバイス用ポリマー基板の割れとその低減 Cracking in polymer substrates for flexible electronic devices and its mitigation
Anush Ranka,Madhuja Layek,Sayaka Kochiyama,Cristina López-Pernia,Alicia M. Chandler,Conrad A. Kocoj,Erica Magliano,Aldo Di Carlo,Francesca Brunetti,Peijun Guo,Subra Suresh,David C. Paine,Haneesh Kesari & Nitin P. Padture
npj Flexible Electronics Published:22 August 2025
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41528-025-00470-z
Abstract
Mechanical reliability plays a critical role in determining the durability of flexible electronic devices because of the significant mechanical stresses they experience during manufacturing and operation. Many such devices are built on sheets comprising stiff transparent-conducting oxide (TCO) electrode films on compliant polymer substrates, and it is generally assumed that the high-toughness polymer substrates do not crack. Contrary to this assumption, here we show extensive cracking in the polymer substrates during bending of a variety of TCO/polymer sheets, and a device example — flexible perovskite solar cells. Such substrate cracking, which compromises the overall mechanical integrity of the entire device, is driven by the amplified stress-intensity factor caused by the elastic mismatch at the film/substrate interface. To mitigate this substrate cracking, an interlayer-engineering approach is designed and experimentally demonstrated. This approach is potentially applicable to myriad flexible electronic devices, with stiff films on compliant substrates, for improving their durability and reliability.
