Characterization of strain tolerance in electronic materials to improve the flexibility of solar cells and other electronic devices

电子设备在发达国家已经变得无处不在，我们中的许多人从未离开最近的设备超过几米。为了补充这一电子武器库，消费者现在要求他们的电子设备具有柔性或可伸缩版本，而市场才刚刚开始看到柔性手机和电子阅读器等东西的出现。 以我在有机电子学和机械特性方面的专业知识为基础，这项研究计划将致力于改进电子设备，使其对机械变形具有越来越强的弹性。我和一群学生将开发新的技术，以跟踪关键电子材料在机械变形时性能如何变化。这些技术当然包括电学测量，但我们也将跟踪变形过程中光学性质的演变。这些光学特性与任何涉及光的设备(包括太阳能电池、发光二极管、显示器等)高度相关，但令人惊讶的是，人们对它们对机械变形的响应知之甚少。有了这一新知识，我们将制造出比它们的前辈更耐应变的材料和设备(即更可弯曲、可拉伸或可扭转)。我们将把耐应变太阳能电池作为我们的主要目标，但这些发现肯定也将与其他设备相关，如柔性显示器、触摸屏或电池。我们将在短期内开发这些改进的材料和设备，最终，我们可以预期看到消费产品推向市场，例如可以像风帆一样伸展的太阳能集成防水布，或者填充在紧凑的袋子中存储，甚至是直接集成在高应变内部器官(如肺或心脏)上的医疗诊断设备。

Electronic devices have become ubiquitous in the developed world, with many of us never moving more than a few meters from the nearest device. To supplement this electronic arsenal, consumers are now demanding flexible or stretchable versions of their electronic devices, and the marketplace is just beginning to see the appearance of such things as flexible mobile phones and e-readers. Building on my expertise in organic electronics and mechanical characterization, this research program will build toward improved electronic devices that are increasingly resilient to mechanical deformation. A group of students and I will develop new techniques to track how the properties of key electronic materials change as they are mechanically deformed. These techniques will certainly include electrical measurements, but we will also track the evolution of optical properties during deformation. These optical properties are highly relevant for any devices that involve light (including solar cells, light emitting diodes, displays, and the like), yet surprisingly little is known about their response to mechanical deformation. Armed with this new knowledge, we will fabricate materials and devices that are more strain tolerant than their predecessors (i.e., more bendable, stretchable or twistable). We will make strain-tolerant solar cells our primary target, but the discoveries will also certainly be relevant to other devices such as flexible displays, touch screens, or batteries. We will develop these improved materials and devices on the short term, and ultimately, we can expect to see consumer products take to the market such as “solar-integrated tarps” that can be stretched like a sail when deployed or stuffed in a compact pouch for storage, or even medical diagnostic devices integrated directly on high strain internal organs like the lungs or heart.