Transparent and compliant electrodes using indium tin oxide thin films for dielectric elastomer actuators

• Main Author: Ong, Hui Ying
• Other Authors: School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
• Format: Theses and Dissertations
• Language: English
• Published: 2014
• Subjects: DRNTU::Engineering
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/59977
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

There is huge demand for transparent and compliant electrodes for flexible electronic devices. If these electrodes could be actuated to form wrinkle, it could even make a smart window that switches between being transparent or opaque on voltage control. Indium tin oxide (ITO) has widely been used as transparent electrodes for flat panel displays, liquid crystal display. However, it is brittle and could not be used as compliant electrode for dielectric elastomer actuator. Other nanomaterials, such as carbon nanotube and graphene, were recently shown capable of voltage-controlled actuation and consequently significant change in optical transmittance. But, their synthesis is difficult and not scalable for mass production. If ITO electrodes could be made compliant, it could address the need for these electrochromic devices and scale for mass production.