| AVS 61st International Symposium & Exhibition | |
| Manufacturing Science and Technology | Wednesday Sessions |
| Session MS+TF-WeA |
| Session: | Overview: Applications and Manufacturing of Devices on Paper and Textiles |
| Presenter: | Robert Moon, US Forest Service-Forest Products Laboratory |
| Authors: | Y. Zhou, Georgia Institute of Technology C. Fuentes-Hernandez, Georgia Institute of Technology T. Khan, Georgia Institute of Technology J.-C. Liu, Purdue University J. Diaz, Purdue University J. Hsu, Georgia Institute of Technology J. Shim, Georgia Institute of Technology A. Dindar, Georgia Institute of Technology R. Moon, US Forest Service-Forest Products Laboratory J. Youngblood, Purdue University B.J. Kippelen, Georgia Institute of Technology |
| Correspondent: | Click to Email |
Fabrication of flexible electronics (e.g. solar cells) on recyclable and biodegradable substrates are attractive for the realization of a sustainable technology, but significant advances are required to make the technologies economically viable and, from a life-cycle perspective, environmentally friendly, and consequently scalable. One of the key areas of research for making this a reality is in the design/engineering of suitable substrate materials that can: mechanically and chemically support the given electronics, have sufficient surface features (low roughness, surface chemistry, etc) to facilitate the process of the electronics, have similar thermal expansion characteristics of the electronics to minimize stress at the substrate-device interface, have the desired optical transmittance for device performance or application of product, and facilitate the recovery of the electronic components during the recycling process, to name a few. Our recent work has focused on the development cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) based substrates for such applications. Cellulose nanomaterials (CNM) are emerging high-value nanoparticles extracted from plants that are abundant, renewable, and sustainable. CNCs are rod-like nanoparticles of about 4-10 nm in diameter and 50-400 nm in length and through solvent casting of aqueous suspensions, transparent substrates suitable for electronic devices can be produced. By adjusting the suspension composition, pH, application of shear (control CNC alignment), drying conditions and heat treatment, have been identified as relevant factors affecting the final film/substrate properties.
This talk will provide a general introduction and review of the current state of art in cellulose nanomaterials, their use as substrate materials for flexible electronics, and summarize our work on the measurement of thermo-mechanical properties of CNC-based substrate materials and the development of efficient polymer solar cells fabricated on optically transparent CNC substrates.