Robustification of ITO nanolayer by surface‐functionalization of transparent biopolyimide substrates

Abstract

Robust and transparent electrodes with good flexibility and high mechanical strength are required for preparing next‐generation electronic devices. Indium tin oxide (ITO) nanolayers have been grown by radio‐frequency sputtering process on reactive surface of transparent and thermostable biopolyimide, derived from an exotic aromatic amino acid, 4‐aminocinnamic acid (4ACA). It is observed that greater surface hydrophilicity of the biopolyimide induces stronger interfacial interaction with ITO nanolayer resulting in smoother surface of the bionanohybrids. Spectroscopy, microscopy, and X‐ray diffraction reveal the successful deposition of the ultra‐thin ITO nanolayer onto the surface‐engineered biopolyimide. The process provides transparent bionanohybrid films with robustness against mechanical deformation. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2018, 135, 46709.

New High-Performance Materials: Bio-Based, Eco-Friendly Polyimides

“…The obtained materials displayed thermal, mechanical, electrical, optical, and adhesions performances comparable to or superior (especially in terms of optical transparency, ITO adherence, and device resistivity) to the extensively employed Kapton ® PI film. This allowed the development of flexible, robust, and transparent electrodes for high tech electronic devices [56].…”

High-temperature resistant water-soluble polymers derived from exotic amino acids

“…The cyclobutane is a rigid yet deformable ring with not very high strain energy and thereby the thermal stability is largely maintained. 15,16 V-type structure of cyclobutane resulted in polymer backbone adopting slight zig-zag architecture, where the angle of "V" is around 156 (Fig. 1A) between those of para-and meta-aromatic linkage, which can induce both good solubility and high thermal performances in polymers.…”

Self-Standing Nanomembranes of Super-Tough Plastics

“…These polymers exhibit high performance owing to the interaction among the aromatic rings, various imide rings, and amide bonds. − Despite having such high performance, most aromatic polymers have the disadvantage of low toughness owing to their high rigidity. Recently, biobased high-performance plastics were developed as superstrong optically transparent plastics of polyimides − and polyamides from an aromatic bioproduced resource, photodimer derivatives of 4-aminocinnamic acid (4ACA), − which is produced from genetically manipulated Escherichia coli to realize a sustainable society. − Specifically, the biobased polyamides had higher thermal and mechanical stability compared to conventional organic glasses, such as poly­(ethylene terephthalate), poly­(methyl methacrylate), polycarbonates, , cycloolefin polymers, and nanocellulose films . However, in a previous study, only fibers could be obtained, and a method for fabricating high-strength films was not established.…”