Abstract
We investigated the electrical and optical properties of ITO/Ag-alloy/ITO films in a corrosive NaCl solution. The effects of bending fatigue combined with aggressive environments pro-vided by the salt solution were also studied. It is shown that exposure to the salt solution can cause the ITO/Ag-alloy/ITO performance to degrade over time. In addition, greater changes in electrical resistance and lower values of optical transmittance were observed at higher concentrations of the salt solution. The combination of stress and corrosion by the aqueous NaCl solution was found to significantly reduce the conductivity of the ITO/Ag-alloy/ITO film. Furthermore, it is shown that the presence of structural defects in the deposited films can provide a driving force to form Ag agglomerations that, in turn, degrade the conductivity of the ITO/Ag-alloy/ITO film. This suggests that defects in the film should be minimized to avoid excessive corrosion.
Highlights
High optical transmittance (> 90%) and low electrical resistivity ~7×10−4 (Ω cm) [1] make indium tin oxide (ITO) a good candidate anode material for optoelectronic devices such as solar cells, touch panels, liquid crystal displays, and organic light-emitting diodes [2, 3]
We investigated the change in electrical resistance of ITO/Ag-alloy/ITO films as a function of time in the presence of a NaCl aqueous solution
The specimens were cleaned by distilled water and dried by compressed air and were put into a bath of 0.3, 0.5, 1, 2, and 3 M of the NaCl solution for 57600 s (16 h), and the electrical resistance was monitored in situ to assess the reliability of the conducting films
Summary
High optical transmittance (> 90%) and low electrical resistivity ~7×10−4 (Ω cm) [1] make indium tin oxide (ITO) a good candidate anode material for optoelectronic devices such as solar cells, touch panels, liquid crystal displays, and organic light-emitting diodes [2, 3]. To improve the corrosion resistance of the multilayer coatings, they sputtered 0.5−2 nm thick transition metals, such as Ti, V, Ta, and Zr, on the top surface of the multilayer coatings, and the appearance, electrical resistance, and optical transmittance of the multilayer coatings were evaluated They observed that durability against salt-water exposure was dramatically improved by deposition of Ti and Ta to the top surface of the multilayer (ITO/Ag/ITO/Ag/ITO/Ag/ITO/PET substrate) without a significant decrease in transmittance. The optical transmittance of the ITO/Ag-alloy/ITO film deposited on flexible PET after exposure to the aqueous salt for 16 h was measured The latter is an important consideration for a number of applications such as displays and solar cells. The effects of bending fatigue combined with aggressive and corrosive environments provided by the salt were studied
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