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，我们中的许多人离最近的设备从来没有超过几米。为了补充这种电子武器，消费者现在要求他们的电子设备具有柔性或可伸缩的版本，而市场上才刚刚开始出现柔性手机和电子阅读器等产品。****以我在有机电子学和机械特性方面的专业知识为基础，本研究项目将致力于改进电子设备，使其对机械变形的抵抗力越来越强。我和一组学生将开发新技术来跟踪关键电子材料在机械变形时的性能变化。这些技术当然包括电子测量，但我们也将跟踪变形过程中光学特性的演变。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反应知之甚少。有了这些新知识，我们将制造比他们的前辈更耐应变的材料和设备（即，更可弯曲，可拉伸或可扭曲）。我们将使耐压太阳能电池成为我们的主要目标，但这些发现也肯定会与其他设备相关，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，我们可以期待看到消费产品进入市场，比如“太阳能集成防水布”，它可以像帆一样展开或塞进一个紧凑的袋子里储存，甚至是直接集成在肺或心脏等高负荷内部器官上的医疗诊断设备。********

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.********