This report gives
an in-depth review of the issues, as well as forecasts for OLEDs and OPV, in
order to understand the influence that the development of flexible barriers
will have on the mass deployment and adoption of flexible electronics and
photovoltaics.
A large opportunity lies in the
development of devices in a flexible form factor, allowing them to be more
robust, lightweight and versatile in their use.
However, many of the materials used in
OLED displays and organic photovoltaics are sensitive to the environment,
limiting their lifetime. These materials can be protected using substrates and
barriers such as glass and metal, but this results in a rigid device and does
not satisfy the applications demanding flexible devices. Plastic substrates and
transparent flexible encapsulation barriers can be used, but these offer little
protection to oxygen and water, resulting in the devices rapidly degrading.
In order to achieve device lifetimes of
tens of thousands of hours, water vapor transmission rates (WVTR) must be 10-6
g/m2/day, and oxygen transmission rates (OTR) must be < 10-3 cm3/m2/day. For
Organic Photovoltaics, the required WVTR is not as stringent as OLEDs require
but is still very high at a level of 10-5 g/m2/day. These transmission rates
are several orders of magnitude smaller than what is possible using any plastic
substrate, and they can also be several orders of magnitude smaller than what
can be measured using common equipment designed for this purpose. For these
(and other) reasons, there has been intense interest in developing transparent
barrier materials with much lower permeabilities.
This concise and unique report from IDTechEx gives an in-depth review of the
needs, emerging solutions and players. It addresses specific topics such as:
· Companies
which are active in the development of high barrier films and their
achievements on the field to date.
· Surface
smoothness and defects (such as cracks and pinholes) and the effect that these
characteristics would have on the barrier behavior of the materials studied.
· Traditional
methods of measurement of permeability are reaching the end of their abilities.
The MOCON WVTR measurement device, which has been an industry standard, cannot
give adequate measurements at the low levels of permeability required for
Organic Photovoltaics and OLEDs. Other methods of measurement and equipment
developed are being discussed.
· Forecasts
for OLEDs and OPV, in order to understand the influence that the development of
flexible barriers would have at the mass deployment and adoption of these
technologies.
Read more info.
@ http://www.reportsnreports.com/reports/152825-barrier-films-for-flexible-electronics-2012-2022.html
