Mechanically robust stretchable organic optoelectronic devices built using a simple and universal stencil-pattern transferring technology

Da Yin,Nai-Rong Jiang,Xu-Lin Zhang,Jing Feng,Yue-Feng Liu,Ai-Wu Li,Hong-Bo Sun

doi:10.1038/s41377-018-0041-x

Abstract

Stretchable electronic and optoelectronic devices based on controllable ordered buckling structures exhibit superior mechanical stability by retaining their buckling profile without distortion in repeated stretch-release cycles. However, a simple and universal technology to introduce ordered buckling structures into stretchable devices remains a real challenge. Here, a simple and general stencil-pattern transferring technology was applied to stretchable organic light-emitting devices (SOLEDs) and polymer solar cells (SPSCs) to realize an ordered buckling profile. To the best of our knowledge, both the SOLEDs and SPSCs with periodic buckles exhibited the highest mechanical robustness by operating with small performance variations after 20,000 and 12,000 stretch-release cycles between 0% and 20% tensile strain, respectively. Notably, in this work, periodic-buckled structures were introduced into SPSCs for the first time, with the number of stretch-release cycles for the SPSCs improved by two orders of magnitude compared to that for previously reported random-buckled stretchable organic solar cells. The simple method used in this work provides a universal solution for low-cost and high-performance stretchable electronic and optoelectronic devices and promotes the commercial development of stretchable devices in wearable electronics.

Highlights

IntroductionStretchable electronic and optoelectronic devices such as stretchable light-emitting devices[1,2,3,4,5,6,7], solar cells[8,9,10,11], supercapacitors[12,13,14,15], batteries[16,17,18], conductors[19,20,21,22,23], and sensors[24,25,26,27] show great potential for next-generation wearable electronics applications
The increasing proportion was identical to the tensile strain, which demonstrated that the deposited thin Al film did not affect the stretchability of the elastomeric substrate
A simple and universal stencil-pattern transferring technology was applied to stretchable organic optoelectronic devices, resulting in the demonstration of highperformance stretchable organic lightemitting devices (SOLEDs) and SOLEDs and polymer solar cells (SPSCs) with periodic buckles

Summary

Introduction

Stretchable electronic and optoelectronic devices such as stretchable light-emitting devices[1,2,3,4,5,6,7], solar cells[8,9,10,11], supercapacitors[12,13,14,15], batteries[16,17,18], conductors[19,20,21,22,23], and sensors[24,25,26,27] show great potential for next-generation wearable electronics applications. Introducing well-designed ordered structures on the surface of an adhesive and elastomeric substrate via the use of a programmable laser ablation process has been demonstrated as a feasible strategy to fabricate periodic buckles for stretchable organic lightemitting devices (SOLEDs) with high mechanical stability[41]. We developed a simple and general stencil-pattern transferring technique for fabricating ordered buckles in stretchable organic optoelectronic devices. The simple and low-cost stencil-pattern transferring technique employed in this work exhibits great potential as a universal solution for various stretchable electronic and optoelectronic devices because of its compatibility with various materials, structures, and fabrication processes for device fabrication; this compatibility is important for promoting the commercial development of stretchable electronic and optoelectronic devices in wearable electronics

Methods

Results

Conclusion