SBIR Phase II: Efficient Manufacturing of Nanostructured Flexible Transparent Conducting Electrodes

该小型企业创新研究（SBIR）第二阶段项目旨在开发高性能透明导体，以替代触摸屏中的氧化铟锡（ITO）。 ITO具有许多缺点，包括作为触摸屏设备的最昂贵的组件之一、复杂的制造和可扩展性。 在本项目中，将使用基于溶液的常规涂覆设备开发透明导体。这种新型透明导体的两个关键特征是：（1）易于加工，消除了涂层中涉及的许多传统加工步骤;（2）极高的耐用性，能够创造出下一代触摸设备，而这些设备是用ITO或其他ITO替代材料无法实现的。通过提取透明导体薄膜的有效光学参数，从理论和实验上研究了光子传输和电子传导之间的折衷关系。 印刷的触摸屏传感器将被集成到功能性多点触摸投影电容设备中，预计将显示出机械灵活性，更高的信噪比和更快的响应时间。 该项目的更广泛/商业影响将是以更低的成本提高触摸屏性能的潜力。 目前，用于触摸屏行业的图案化透明导体材料的总可寻址市场约为13亿美元。 目前，ITO的材料和加工成本在触摸屏设备的材料清单中所占的比例越来越大。通过该项目开发的透明导体具有低成本、高性能和高产量的优势，这将解决触摸屏行业中与ITO相关的挑战。 该技术的其他应用包括液晶显示器、有机发光二极管、电子纸、柔性显示器、薄膜光致发光器件、电磁屏蔽、防辐射挡风玻璃、低辐射建筑玻璃和智能窗户。

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project aims to develop high-performance transparent conductors as a replacement to Indium Tin Oxide (ITO) in touchscreens. ITO suffers from a number of disadvantages, including being one of the most expensive components of a touchscreen device, complex manufacture, and inflexibility. In this project, a transparent conductor will be developed using solution-based conventional coating equipment. Two key features of this novel transparent conductor are: (1) ease of processing, which eliminates many conventional processing steps involved in coatings; and (2) extreme durability, which enables the creation of next-generation touch devices that are otherwise impossible to realize with ITO or other ITO-alternative materials. The tradeoff between photonic transmission and electronic conduction will be theoretically and experimentally studied by extracting effective optical parameters of transparent conductor films. The printed touchscreen sensors will be integrated into functional multi-touch projected-capacitive devices, which are expected to show mechanical flexibility, higher signal to noise ratios, and faster response times. The broader/commercial impacts of this project will be the potential to enable enhanced performance of touchscreens at disruptively lower costs. The total addressable market of patterned transparent conductor materials for touchscreen industry is about $1.3 billion today. Currently, material and processing costs of ITO represent a growing portion of the bill of materials for touchscreen devices. Transparent conductors to be developed through this project offer low-cost, high-performance, and high production throughput benefits, which will address the ITO-related challenges in touchscreen industry. Other applications of this technology includes liquid crystal displays, organic light emitting diodes, e-paper, flexible displays, thin film photovoltaics, electromagnetic shielding, defrosting windshields, low-emissivity architectural glass, and smart windows.