Indium Tin Oxide Polyethylene Terephthalate Research Articles

Dry and wet sliding wear of ITO-coated PET components used in flexible optoelectronic applications

Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) coated with indium tin oxide (ITO) is a common electrode component used in numerous flexible optoelectronic devices including flexible displays and solar cells. The advantages of such components include excellent optical transparency, mechanical flexibility and light weight. However, there is little research reported to date on the wear characteristics of the ITO film. Wear of the ITO can be a critical reliability parameter in devices where repetitive user–device interactions and extreme handling are present. The aim of this work is to investigate the wear of an ITO flat surface in contact with an ITO flat counterface under dry, and wet, sliding conditions. Tests were conducted under a moderate normal load for up to a few thousand sliding cycles. Flat-on-flat contact under pure dry, and wet, sliding conditions was used by means of a custom-built reciprocating wear tester. Wet sliding experiments were conducted using acrylic acid solutions. Acrylic acid, contained in many pressure-sensitive adhesives that are in contact with the ITO layer in optoelectronic stacks, can cause corrosion. Wear was determined from weight measurements. The ITO electrical resistance was monitored in situ in order to provide an insight into the wear development. Microscopy was conducted using optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). Wear mechanisms of ITO surfaces include cohesive failure within the film, adhesive wear between ITO film and PET substrate, underlying plastic deformation of the PET substrate and abrasive wear of the ITO film. The results, including weight losses and wear mechanisms for ITO-coated PET, can help the understanding of such systems and aid the design of more reliable optoelectronic devices.

Room temperature crystallization of indium tin oxide films on glass and polyethylene terephthalate substrates using rf plasma

The crystallization of amorphous indium tin oxide (ITO) films was achieved by rf (13.56MHz) plasma treatment. Although the films were crystallized after 2min, the sample temperature was lower than 90°C without compulsory cooling even after 10min of treatment and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) substrates had no damage. Plasma-crystallized sputtered ITO films have a bixbite structure and the resistivity reached to 1.6×10−4Ω∙cm. ITO thin films have almost the same resistivity in both cases of PET and glass substrates used and plasma-treated PET ITO films have a bit higher resistivity than that of glass ITO films, while mass spectroscopy measurements indicated that ITO films deposited on PET substrates are expected to include no apparent gas species ejected from PET substrate. It was found that the plasma gas pressure is the key parameter for the effective crystallization and the appropriate gas pressure depends on the plasma gas species.

Low temperature preparation of mesoporous TiO2 films for efficient dye-sensitized photoelectrode by chemical vapor deposition combined with UV light irradiation

A new method for fabricating plastic film-based mesoporous TiO 2 electrodes for efficient dye-sensitized solar cells is described. TiO 2 nanocrystalline layers electrophoretically deposited on indium-tin-oxide (ITO)-coated polyethylene terephthalate (PET) film was post-treated with chemical vapor deposition (CVD) of Ti alkoxide followed by UV light irradiation at temperatures below 110 °C. UV-assisted CVD treatment drastically enhanced dye-sensitized photocurrent and improved photovoltage up to 750 mV. A film electrode bearing Ru complex (Ru 535-bis TBA) dye-sensitized TiO 2 on ITO–PET yielded solar energy conversion efficiency of 3.8%.

Low temperature preparation of mesoporous TiO 2 films for efficient dye-sensitized photoelectrode by chemical vapor deposition combined with UV light irradiation

A new method for fabricating plastic film-based mesoporous TiO 2 electrodes for efficient dye-sensitized solar cells is described. TiO 2 nanocrystalline layers electrophoretically deposited on indium-tin-oxide (ITO)-coated polyethylene terephthalate (PET) film was post-treated with chemical vapor deposition (CVD) of Ti alkoxide followed by UV light irradiation at temperatures below 110 °C. UV-assisted CVD treatment drastically enhanced dye-sensitized photocurrent and improved photovoltage up to 750 mV. A film electrode bearing Ru complex (Ru 535-bis TBA) dye-sensitized TiO 2 on ITO–PET yielded solar energy conversion efficiency of 3.8%.