{"124901":{"#nid":"124901","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Stable Electrodes for Improving Printed Electronics","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EImagine owning a television with the thickness and weight of a sheet of paper. It will be possible, someday, thanks to the growing industry of printed electronics. The process, which allows manufacturers to literally print or roll materials onto surfaces to produce an electronically functional device, is already used in organic solar cells and organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) that form the displays of cellphones.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAlthough this emerging technology is expected to grow by tens of billions of dollars over the next 10 years, one challenge is in manufacturing at low cost in ambient conditions. In order to create light or energy by injecting or collecting electrons, printed electronics require conductors, usually calcium, magnesium or lithium, with a low-work function. These metals are chemically very reactive. They oxidize and stop working if exposed to oxygen and moisture. This is why electronics in solar cells and TVs, for example, must be covered with a rigid, thick barrier such as glass or expensive encapsulation layers.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHowever, in new findings published in the journal Science, Georgia Tech researchers have introduced what appears to be a universal technique to reduce the work function of a conductor. They spread a very thin layer of a polymer, approximately one to 10 nanometers thick, on the conductor\u2019s surface to create a strong surface dipole. The interaction turns air-stable conductors into efficient, low-work function electrodes.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe commercially available polymers can be easily processed from dilute solutions in solvents such as water and methoxyethanol.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThese polymers are inexpensive, environmentally friendly and compatible with existent roll-to-roll mass production techniques,\u201d said Bernard Kippelen, director of Georgia Tech\u2019s Center for Organic Photonics and Electronics (COPE). \u201cReplacing the reactive metals with stable conductors, including conducting polymers, completely changes the requirements of how electronics are manufactured and protected. Their use can pave the way for lower cost and more flexible devices.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ETo illustrate the new method, Kippelen and his peers evaluated the polymers\u2019 performance in organic thin-film transistors and OLEDs. They\u2019ve also built a prototype: the first-ever, completely plastic solar cell.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThe polymer modifier reduces the work function in a wide range of conductors, including silver, gold and aluminum,\u201d noted Seth Marder, associate director of COPE and professor in the School of Chemistry and Biochemistry. \u201cThe process is also effective in transparent metal-oxides and graphene.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ECOPE is a collaborative effort of Georgia Tech professors in the Colleges of Engineering, Sciences and the Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts. The center is working on the next generation of electronic devices in order to save energy, reduce costs, increase national security and enhance the quality of the environment. Researchers from the groups of Georgia Tech professors Jean-Luc Br\u00e9das and Samuel Graham, as well as Princeton University Professor Antoine Kahn, also contributed to the new study.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe research was funded in part through the Center for Interface Science: Solar Electric Materials, an Energy Frontier Research Center funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences under Award Number DE-SC0001084, by the STC Program MDITR of the National Science Foundation under Agreement No. DMR-0120967, and by the Office of Naval Research (Grant No. N00014-04-1-0120). The content is solely the responsibility of the principal investigators and does not necessarily represent the official views of the DOE, NSF and ONR.\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"Method could pave way for lower cost, more flexible devices"}],"field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EIn new findings published in the journal Science, Georgia Tech researchers have introduced what appears to be a universal technique to reduce the work function of a conductor. Their use in printable electronics can pave the way for lower cost and more flexible devices.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Researchers have introduced what appears to be a universal technique to reduce the work function of a conductor in printable electronics."}],"uid":"27560","created_gmt":"2012-04-19 09:18:25","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:12:04","author":"Jason Maderer","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2012-04-19T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2012-04-19T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"124891":{"id":"124891","type":"image","title":"Completely Plastic Solar Cell (wet)","body":null,"created":"1449178593","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 21:36:33","changed":"1475894746","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:45:46","alt":"Completely Plastic Solar Cell (wet)","file":{"fid":"194483","name":"solar_cell_wet.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/solar_cell_wet_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/solar_cell_wet_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":4932554,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/solar_cell_wet_0.jpg?itok=RKBHO_m-"}},"124871":{"id":"124871","type":"image","title":"Completely Plastic Solar Cell 1","body":null,"created":"1449178593","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 21:36:33","changed":"1475894746","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:45:46","alt":"Completely Plastic Solar Cell 1","file":{"fid":"194481","name":"12p1000-p25-002.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/12p1000-p25-002_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/12p1000-p25-002_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":1583958,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/12p1000-p25-002_0.jpg?itok=PTAK9tsn"}},"124881":{"id":"124881","type":"image","title":"Completely Plastic Solar Cell 2","body":null,"created":"1449178593","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 21:36:33","changed":"1475894746","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:45:46","alt":"Completely Plastic Solar Cell 2","file":{"fid":"194482","name":"12p1000-p25-0041.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/12p1000-p25-0041_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/12p1000-p25-0041_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":1378742,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/12p1000-p25-0041_0.jpg?itok=-VVIBZ9F"}}},"media_ids":["124891","124871","124881"],"related_links":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.cope.gatech.edu\/","title":"COPE"}],"groups":[{"id":"1183","name":"Home"}],"categories":[{"id":"141","name":"Chemistry and Chemical Engineering"},{"id":"145","name":"Engineering"},{"id":"135","name":"Research"}],"keywords":[{"id":"2431","name":"Bernard Kippelen"},{"id":"12372","name":"organic solar cells"},{"id":"30901","name":"Printable Electronics"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EJason Maderer\u003Cbr \/\u003EMedia Relations\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:maderer@gatech.edu\u0022\u003Emaderer@gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E404-385-2966\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["maderer@gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}