Proceedings of Asia-Pacific Conference on Perovskite, Organic Photovoltaics&Optoelectronics (IPEROP25)
Publication date: 17th October 2024
Extreme thinness can reduce the weight of electronics, which dramatically reduces discomfort when wearing. Furthermore, it also improves their mechanical robustness to bending because applied strain is determined by the material's softness and device thickness. In the simplified model, the film thickness is inversely proportional to the strain value, such that a thinner thickness means that the device experiences less strain for the same bending radius [1]. Furthermore, intrinsically stretchability enables attachment onto movable parts such as body joints. These advantages have inspired research into ultra-thin and stretchable organic solar cells and related integrated electronics.
We are focusing on to improvement both power conversion efficiency (PCE) and environmental stability of flexible/stretchable organic solar cells. We achieved water proof and high-performance ultrathin organic solar cells that can be operated underwater [1]. An innovation on the structures enabled much improved water stability of flexible organic solar cells. Additionally, we developed a self-powered wearable sensor by integrating all-solution processed trilayer structure with organic optoelectronics [2]. With such ultrathin organic solar cells, we enabled rechargeable wearable electronic systems for living small insects using ultra-thin organic solar cells [3]. The ultimate thinness and lightweight properties enable secured basic motion abilities of insects even with our solar cell modules attached to their abdominal surface.
This study was financially supported by the Japan Science and Technology Agency A-STEP (no. AS3015021R) and by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science under Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research (KAKENHI) (no. JP22H04949).