Alternative materials for flexible transparent conductive electrodes

Lordan, Daniel

Alternative materials for flexible transparent conductive electrodes

dc.check.embargoformat	Not applicable	en
dc.check.info	No embargo required	en
dc.check.opt-out	Not applicable	en
dc.check.reason	No embargo required	en
dc.check.type	No Embargo Required
dc.contributor.advisor	Quinn, Aidan J.	en
dc.contributor.advisor	Manning, Mary	en
dc.contributor.advisor	Burke, Micheal	en
dc.contributor.author	Lordan, Daniel
dc.contributor.funder	Science Foundation Ireland	en
dc.contributor.funder	Seventh Framework Programme	en
dc.date.accessioned	2017-04-26T11:51:49Z
dc.date.available	2017-04-26T11:51:49Z
dc.date.issued	2017
dc.date.submitted	2017
dc.description.abstract	This thesis investigates new alternative materials for flexible transparent electrodes: monolayer graphene and micron-scale metal mesh structures. Growth of graphene on copper foils by chemical vapour deposition (CVD) was investigated by commissioning and developing a CVD system in Tyndall. Initial growth runs resulted in poor graphene coverage. Several routes for growth improvement were examined: an acid pre-treatment, substrate geometry and growth pressure. Following this improvement, a continuous growth run was carried out displaying high monolayer graphene coverage. Graphene was transferred to Si/SiO2 (90 nm thermal oxide) and glass substrates using a wet chemical transfer process. This process involves the use of a polymer which acts as a support mechanism. However, polymer residue can have drastic effects on the electrical performance of CVD graphene films. Therefore an alternative method for polymer removal with the use of heated acetone (~ 60 oC) was investigated. Micron-scale platinum mesh structures were fabricated on rigid glass substrates using a range of metal deposition techniques; metal evaporation and lift-off; ALD and dry etching and sputter deposition and dry etching. Square, hexagonal, circular and a new asymmetric pentagonal tiling were utilised as metal meshes. Their performance were investigated along with the metal deposition technique. Evaporation and lift-off provided the most consistent technique in relation to transparency, haze and sheet resistance. Finally, asymmetric pentagonal platinum meshes were fabricated on flexible transparent substrates using metal evaporation and lift-off. All designs were bent around a radius of curvature (in air) of ~ 3.8 mm up to 1,000 bending cycles for both tension and compression and suggested good performance in comparison to literature. All three designs were used as transparent heaters via Joule heating. All heaters demonstrated good thermal characteristics such as low response times and high thermal resistances. Finally, a pentagonal metal mesh was used to de-ice a glass substrate.	en
dc.description.sponsorship	Science Foundation Ireland (CONNECT Research Centre (13/RC/2077)); Seventh Framework Programme (GONEXTs (309201))	en
dc.description.status	Not peer reviewed	en
dc.description.version	Accepted Version
dc.format.mimetype	application/pdf	en
dc.identifier.citation	Lordan, D. 2017. Alternative materials for flexible transparent conductive electrodes. PhD Thesis, University College Cork.	en
dc.identifier.endpage	252	en
dc.identifier.uri	https://hdl.handle.net/10468/3891
dc.language.iso	en	en
dc.publisher	University College Cork	en
dc.rights	© 2017, Daniel Lordan.	en
dc.rights.uri	http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/	en
dc.subject	Metal meshes	en
dc.subject	Transparent electrode	en
dc.subject	Flexible	en
dc.subject	Graphene transfer	en
dc.subject	CVD Graphene	en
dc.subject	Graphene	en
dc.subject	Pentagon	en
dc.subject	Asymmetric	en
dc.subject	Transparent heaters	en
dc.subject	Polyethylene terephthalate	en
dc.subject	Sputtering	en
dc.subject	Evaporation	en
dc.subject	Chemical vapour deposition	en
dc.subject	Atomic layer deposition	en
dc.thesis.opt-out	false
dc.title	Alternative materials for flexible transparent conductive electrodes	en
dc.type	Doctoral thesis	en
dc.type.qualificationlevel	Doctoral Degree (Structured)	en
dc.type.qualificationname	PHD (Engineering)	en
ucc.workflow.supervisor	aidan.quinn@tyndall.ie