SBIR Phase I: A new conducting, transparent, solution-processable polymer

这个小企业创新研究（SBIR）第一阶段项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力涉及开发各种导电聚合物，这些聚合物可以通过溶液加工成具有高透明度和高导电性的薄膜。 这些薄膜将被用作从柔性显示器到光伏电池等设备的透明导体。 溶液加工的简易性将对器件制造的总成本产生直接影响，因为这些新的导电聚合物可以容易地引入到当前的制造方案中，以代替现有的难以加工且因此成本高的材料。 溶液处理的较低成本将对器件制造的总成本产生显著影响，从而为器件制造商带来显著节省，这些器件制造商不断努力降低制造成本，同时为下一代器件提供数量级的性能改进。这些导电聚合物的使用将从透明电极扩展到光伏电池中的空穴导电层。 这项工作将导致潜在的新的合成策略，为各种导电聚合物与可调的溶解度，降低资本成本的制造和易于加工。这些新的导电聚合物膜的益处将影响柔性显示器、光伏器件和任何需要在可见/近红外中的高透明度和高导电性的电光器件中的器件制造。该小型企业创新研究（SBIR）第一阶段项目将为透明导电材料（如氧化铟锡（ITO）和目前使用的聚合物材料PEDOT：PSS）提供低成本替代品。 这两种材料在加工方面都有局限性，因此尚未被广泛用于下一代消费电子产品。该项目正在开发的这种新型聚合物具有上级性能，生产和制造成本较低，将改变电子显示器，触摸屏，有机照明和薄膜太阳能器件的生产方式。 据估计，这种新材料比现有材料（ITO和PEDOT：PSS）节省50%的成本，同时提供可针对多种应用定制的聚合物。

The broader impacts/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project involves the development of a variety of conducting polymers which can be solution processed into thin films with high transparency and high conductivity. These films will be used as transparent conductors in devices ranging from flexible displays to photovoltaic cells. The ease of solution processing will have an immediate impact on the overall cost of device fabrication since these new conducting polymers can be readily introduced into current manufacturing protocols in place of existing difficult-to-process, and hence high cost, materials. The lower cost of solution processing will have a significant impact on the overall cost of device fabrication resulting in significant savings for device manufacturers who are constantly striving to reduce manufacturing costs while providing order of magnitude improvements in performance for next generation devices. The use of these conducting polymers will extend beyond transparent electrodes to hole conducting layers in photovoltaic cells. This work will lead to potentially new synthetic strategies for a variety of conducting polymers with tunable solubility for reduced capital cost of fabrication and ease of processing. The benefits of these new conducting polymer films will impact device fabrication in flexible displays, photovoltaic devices and any electro-optic devices requiring both high transparency in the visible/near infrared and high conductivity. This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will provide a low cost alternative for transparent conducting materials such as Indium Tin Oxide (ITO) and the currently used polymeric material, PEDOT:PSS. Both materials have limitations in processing and, hence, have not become widely adopted for the next generation consumer electronics. This new polymer under developed in this project has superior properties, lower production and manufacturing costs and will transform the way electronic displays, touch screens, organic lighting, and thin film solar devices are produced. This new material is estimated to provide a 50% cost savings over existing materials (ITO and PEDOT:PSS) while offering a polymer that can be customized for multiple applications.