Flexible energy-storage ceramic thick-film structures with high flexural fatigue endurance

Šadl, Matej (author), Lebar, Andrej (author), Valentinčič, Joško (author), Uršič Nemevšek, Hana (author)

When developing flexible electronic devices, trade-offs between desired functional properties and sufficient mechanical flexibility must often be considered. The integration of functional ceramics on flexible materials is a major challenge. However, aerosol deposition (AD), a room-temperature deposition method, has gained a reputation for its ability to combine ceramics with polymers previously considered incompatible with the conventional high-temperature sintering process. In this work, 0.9Pb(Mg$_{1/3}$Nb$_{2/3}$)O$_3$−0.1PbTiO$_3$ (PMN−10PT) thick films were deposited directly on a polyimide substrate using the AD method. As a result, dense and flexible relaxor-ferroelectric thick films were produced by a one-step direct-integration, suitable for large-scale production. After annealing of as-deposited PMN−10PT films at 400 °C, stress-relaxation occurs, which is responsible for the development of a relaxor-ferroelectric character. Achieved high polarization (38 μC·cm$^{−2}$), high dielectric breakdown strength (∼1000 kV·cm$^{−1}$), and low hysteresis losses lead to improved recoverable energy density and energy-storage efficiency of the annealed thick films, reaching 10 J·cm$^{−3}$ and 73% (at 1000 kV·cm$^{−1}$), respectively. The thick films were subjected to flexural bending tests, which showed high flexibility (1.1% bending strain) and high durability (10$^5$ bending cycles). This stable energy-storage operation makes ceramic-polymer layered structures promising for integration into a wide range of flexible electronic devices.

• Language: English
• Keywords: flexible electronics, ceramic thick films, energy storage, aerosol deposition method, polyimide substrate, relaxor-ferroelectrics, ceramics, deposition, electric fields, granular materials, thin films
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: FS - Faculty of Mechanical Engineering; ZF - Faculty of Health Sciences
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Year: 2022
• Number of pages: Str. 6896–6902
• Numbering: Vol. 5, iss. 6
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-140633
• UDC: 620.1/.2:544.6
• ISSN on article: 2574-0962
• DOI: 10.1021/acsaem.2c00518
• COBISS.SI-ID: 110882307
• Publication date in RUL: 16.09.2022

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: ACS applied energy materials
• Shortened title: ACS app. energy mater.
• Publisher: American Chemical Society
• ISSN: 2574-0962
• COBISS.SI-ID: 39550725

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• License: CC BY 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• Description: This is the standard Creative Commons license that gives others maximum freedom to do what they want with the work as long as they credit the author.