This third volume in the Advanced Nanocarbon Materials series covers the topic of flexible electronics both from a materials and an applications perspective. Comprehensive in its scope, the monograph examines organic, inorganic and composite materials with a section devoted to carbon-based materials with a special focus on the generation and properties of 2D materials. It also presents carbon modifications and derivatives, such as carbon nanotubes, graphene oxide and diamonds.
In terms of the topical applications covered these include, but are not limited to, flexible displays, organic electronics, transistors, integrated circuits, semiconductors and solar cells. These offer perspectives for today?s energy and healthcare challenges, such as electrochemical energy storage and wearable devices. Finally, a section on fundamental properties and characterization approaches of flexible electronics rounds off the book.
Each contribution points out the importance of the structure-function relationship for the target-oriented fabrication of electronic devices, enabling the design of complex components.

Prof. Paolo Samorì is Distinguished Professor (PRCE) in Physical Chemistry at the Université de Strasbourg and Director of the Institut de Science et d'Ingénierie Supramoléculaires. His research interests include nanochemistry, supramolecular sciences, materials chemistry, and Scanning Probe Microscopies with a specific focus on graphene and other 2D materials as well as functional organic/polymeric and hybrid nanomaterials for application in opto-electronics, energy and sensing. He is Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (FRSC), Fellow of the European Academy of Sciences (EURASC), Member of the Academia Europaea and Junior Member of the Institut Universitaire de France (IUF). He has received numerous awards, including the IUPAC Prize for Young Chemists in 2001, the Vincenzo Caglioti award in 2006 granted by the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, the "Nicolò Copernico" award in 2009 (Italy), the ERC Starting Grant (2010), the CNRS Silver Medal in 2012, the Spanish-French "Catalán-Sabatier" Prize (2017) and the German-French "Georg Wittig - Victor Grignard" Prize (2017), the RSC Surfaces and Interfaces Award (2018) and the EURASC Blaise Pascal Medal (2018).

Vincenzo Palermo holds a joint position as research director of CNR (Bologna, Italy) and research professor at Chalmers University of Technology (Göteborg, Sweden). He is currently the vice-director of the Graphene Flagship, one of the largest science projects ever launched in Europe, coordinating more than 150 partners located in twenty-three countries. He has been the coordinator of several European research projects, and member of the scientific committee of EUROGRAPHENE programme. He is actively involved in science dissemination, giving seminars to high-school students and laymen on the interplay between science and history. He is columnist of the science magazine SAPERE, and has published several articles for general audience and two books on the life and science of Albert Einstein and of Isaac Newton. He has won the Lecturer Award for Excellence of the Federation of European Materials Societies (FEMS), the Research Award of the Italian Society of Chemistry (SCI) and the Science dissemination awards of the Italian book association, for its articles on the interplay between science and history.

Inhalt

About the Series Editor xiii

Preface xv

1 Soft Composites with Tunable Optical and Electrical Properties 1
Luca Valentini and Nicola Pugno

1.1 Introduction 1

1.2 Soft Color Composites 2

1.3 Hybrid Viscoelastic Polymer Composites 2

1.4 Elastomeric Conductive Composites 7

1.5 Conclusions and Future Perspectives 9

Acknowledgments 9

References 9

2 Organic Semiconductors for Transparent Electronics 13
Hakan Usta and Antonio Facchetti

2.1 Introduction 13

2.2 Optically Transparent Semiconductor Families 16

2.2.1 Thin-film Transistors 16

2.2.2 Oligothiophenes 19

2.2.3 Fused Heteroacenes 22

2.2.4 Rylene and Fused Aromatic Dicarboximides 29

2.2.5 Other Semiconductors 39

2.3 Conclusions and Perspectives 46

References 47

3 Flexible Carbon-based Electronics: Flexible Solar Cells 51
PhilippMaisch, Luca Lucera, Christoph J. Brabec, and Hans-Joachim Egelhaaf

3.1 Introduction 51

3.2 Applications 52

3.3 Device Physics 53

3.3.1 Structure and Operating Principle 53

3.3.2 Solar Cell Characteristics 55

3.4 New Materials 57

3.5 Flexible Electrodes 59

3.6 Processing 61

3.6.1 Laboratory Scale 61

3.6.2 Industrial Scale 61

3.6.3 Solar Modules 63

3.7 Summary and Outlook 66

References 66

4 Development of Organic Field-effect Transistors for Operation at High Frequency 71
Andrea Perinot,Michele Giorgio, and Mario Caironi

4.1 Introduction 71

4.2 The Transition Frequency f t 73

4.2.1 Measurement Methods 75

4.3 High-frequency Organic Field-effect Transistors 80

4.3.1 Improvement of the Effective Charge Mobility 82

4.3.2 The Reduction of the Footprint 84

4.3.3 Achieving High-frequency Operation at a Low Bias Voltage 87

4.3.4 Integration into Upscalable Fabrication Processes 88

4.4 Conclusions and Perspectives 90

References 92

5 Graphene for Flexible Electronics 95
Bhupendra K. Sharma, Tanmoy Das, and Jong-Hyun Ahn

5.1 Introduction 95

5.2 Synthesis and Transfer Process 96

5.2.1 Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD): Scalable Growth 97

5.2.2 Transfer Process 99

5.3 Applications 101

5.3.1 Transparent Electrodes 101

5.3.1.1 Touch Screen/Panel 102

5.3.1.2 Organic Light-Emitting Diodes 104

5.3.1.3 Photovoltaic Device 109

5.3.2 Field-Effect Transistors 113

5.3.3 Sensors 117

5.3.4 Nanogenerator for Energy Harvesting 120

5.4 Conclusions and Perspectives 123

References 123

6 Printing 2D Materials 131
Felice Torrisi and Tian Carey

6.1 Introduction 131

6.2 Printing Techniques 134

6.2.1 Spin Coating 134

6.2.2 Blade Coating 134

6.2.3 Rod Coating 135

6.2.4 Spray Coating 136

6.2.5 Screen Printing 137

6.2.6 Flexographic Printing 138

6.2.7 Gravure Printing 139

6.2.8 Inkjet Printing 141

6.3 Formulation and Characterization of Electronic Inks 142

6.3.1 Ink Rheology and Surface Chemistry 143

6.3.2 Dispersion of Functional Layered Materials 147

6.4 Exfoliation of Layered Crystals 148

6.4.1 Ultrasonication 149

6.4.2 Ball Milling 150

6.4.3 Shear Exfoliation 150

6.4.4 Microfluidization 151

6.5 Stabilization of Exfoliated Flakes 152

6.5.1 Surfactants 153

6.6 Formulation: From Dispersion to Ink 154

6.6.1 The Rheology of Inks 155

6.7 Printing and Coating of 2D-crystal-based Inks 158

6.7.1 Spin Coating 158<...