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Delamination and Wrinkling of Flexible Conductive Polymer Thin Films
Author(s) -
Xie Kaili,
Glasser Alizée,
Shinde Shekhar,
Zhang Zaicheng,
Rampnoux JeanMichel,
Maali Abdelhamid,
Cloutet Eric,
Hadziioannou Georges,
Kellay Hamid
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
advanced functional materials
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 6.069
H-Index - 322
eISSN - 1616-3028
pISSN - 1616-301X
DOI - 10.1002/adfm.202009039
Subject(s) - materials science , blisters , composite material , thin film , instability , electrical conductor , delamination (geology) , adhesion , polymer , drop (telecommunication) , flexible electronics , conductive polymer , substrate (aquarium) , nanotechnology , paleontology , tectonics , telecommunications , oceanography , physics , geology , computer science , mechanics , biology , subduction
Abstract Polymer based conductive and transparent thin films are an important class of functional materials at the heart of flexible organic electronic devices. These flexible films are prone to degradation and to mechanical instability leading to the formation of blisters, wrinkles, and cracks. This is detrimental to their use especially in the case of multilayer devices. Here, it is shown that a simple water or solvent drop deposited on such films gives rise to a buckling instability and the formation of several folds due to the tendency of these films to swell in contact with the solvent. A phase diagram of the instability portraying its domain of existence, and thus the means to inhibit it, is proposed. By depositing drops on such films and observing the instability, material parameters such as the elastic modulus of the thin films or their energy of adhesion to the substrate can be estimated reliably. Further, the instability can be harnessed to pattern surfaces at low cost giving rise to percolated and more conductive pathways in the conductive polymer films under scrutiny.