Professor Nobuta, an associate professor at the Institute of Industrial Science at Osaka University in Japan, has also developed a “transparent paper” that has outstanding characteristics not found in materials such as plastic film and sheet glass. In order to make full use of its characteristics, Associate Professor Nana also developed a light, thin, and foldable solar cell. The ultimate goal of this research is to establish a printed electronics technology that can place state-of-the-art electronic components on the transparent paper, creating a new generation of electronic components that are both lightweight and flexible.

High "strength" comparable to aramid fiber

“Although it looks like a film, it is actually a piece of transparent paper. If it is only transparent and the material is cheap, people will only think that this thing is very interesting, but the transparent paper has materials such as plastic film and sheet glass. There are no outstanding features."

Nobuyuki Nayako was proud to say this when she showed a piece of transparent tissue that didn't seem to have anything special.

This type of transparent paper is made of "cellulose nanofibers" which are 15-nm-diameter fibers and are made by processing fine cellulose of ordinary non-transparent paper materials. thousandth,.

Nanofiber-sized cellulose nanofibers have a relatively high "strength", comparable to the strongest synthetic fibers, aramid fibers used in bulletproof vests, and a very low "thermal expansion rate", comparable to high-purity quartz. The glass is comparable.

Associate Professor Nohaki believes that if this cellulose nanofiber is used to make transparent paper, it may be applied to the most advanced electronic field of “printed electronics”. For example, an actual product such as a solar cell that can be folded to a small size, can be easily transported, and can generate electricity at any location can be manufactured.

Printed electronics is the electronic technology that attempts to use printing technology to manufacture electronic components such as liquid crystal displays, organic EL displays, and solar cells. As a technology that can achieve energy saving and cost reduction, it is expected to begin application in some fields.

For example, in the manufacture of semiconductors, the "lithography" method is currently used. That is, in a vacuum state, the material is laminated on the substrate at a high temperature of 500 to 800°C, and unnecessary portions are removed. With the use of printing technology, materials can be applied only at the required locations on the substrate at low temperatures around 200°C. Therefore, no material is wasted, energy can be saved, environmental burdens can be reduced, and costs can be reduced. In addition, if the substrate is made of a thin and flexible material, flexibility and weight reduction of the electronic components can also be achieved. Also easy to achieve large area.

However, it is difficult to use the original plastic film directly. This is because the heat-resistant temperature is lower than 200°C and the thermal expansion rate is high. When electronic circuits and components are precisely printed in nanometer units, if the thermal expansion rate is high and the flexibility is large, the difficulty of adjustment will be correspondingly improved.

The thermal decomposition temperature of transparent paper is about 230°C, which is higher than that of plastic, and the thermal expansion coefficient of transparent paper is comparable to that of quartz glass. Therefore, transparent paper can be processed on the production line just like existing glass substrates. In addition, the cellulose nanofibers can form hydrogen bonds at a very high density. Therefore, the transparent paper has a high "modulus of elasticity" comparable to that of carbon fiber-reinforced plastic, that is, it has a characteristic that it is not easily deformed.

In short, transparent paper can solve all the problems of plastic film. And compared with glass, it is light and thin, and it is not brittle. Can also be folded into small, easy to carry.

Regarding the characteristics of transparent paper, Associate Professor Numiki explained: "It is equivalent to using wood to make a foldable sheet glass."

Seamlessly laminated cellulose nanofibers

Associate Professor Numiki produced ideas for making transparent paper using cellulose nanofibers around 2007.

Paper originally referred to "extracting cellulose fibers from plants such as wood, and after combing them, they were dispersed in water, and then filtered using metal wire mesh, etc. to spread them so that they could be layered together smoothly and eventually drained. Sheet made of water."

There is a negatively charged hydroxyl group on the surface of the fiber, and the paper is basically made by bonding the hydroxyl groups to each other to form a hydrogen bond. The fibers are not intertwined with each other but are attached by hydrogen bonds. The carding fibers are used to increase the specific surface area and increase the amount of bound hydroxyl groups.

In general, the fiber used for the paper material is approximately 15 microns in diameter. After laminating this kind of fiber, numerous fine gaps are formed between the fibers, forming a porous structure. This causes light scattering, so the paper is opaque. In other words, this is transparent with ice without air, and shaved ice with a lot of air is white.

Associate Professor Noh was looking at this point. His idea is that if cellulose nanofibers that are finer than the optical wavelength are densely layered in a seamless manner, light scattering does not occur, and thus transparent paper should be produced. The result is as expected. In 2008, Associate Professor Nokio successfully produced transparent paper.

By the way, from 2003 to 2009, Associate Professor Noh was a researcher in the research department of Professor Yano Koji of the Living Circle Research Institute at Kyoto University in Japan. During this period, he and his colleague Hirokazu Taro were successfully mechanically extracted. Cellulose nanofibers.

Associate Professor Numiki's specialty is to study the forest production of trees. During his school days, he had visited the rainforests of Indonesia and other places. He officially began researching cellulose nanofibers after entering Kyoto University in 2003.

Developing collapsible solar cells

After being able to produce transparent paper, Associate Professor Nomo entered the Osaka University Industrial Science Research Institute in November 2009, where he worked as a teaching assistant in the laboratory of Prof. Kazuo Fumada who specializes in cutting-edge installation materials. In 2010, as a practical example of transparent paper, with the help of the Institute's Assistant Professor Shin Chuancheng, we started to produce organic thin-film solar cells.

Organic thin-film solar cells are a promising new generation of solar cells for practical use. As its name suggests, organic compounds are used in photoelectric conversion layers. Since a thin film is used as a substrate, it can be easily manufactured using a printing technique. Therefore, compared with a conventional crystalline silicon solar cell, not only the production cost can be reduced, but also light, thin, and bendable characteristics can be obtained. Therefore, the application range is quite wide and various design processes can be performed.

In fact, when making the transparent paper, Associate Professor Nomori made a solar cell and consulted several researchers of organic thin-film solar cells. But did not get a quick reply.

Their opinion is that the world is advancing the research and development of plastic film as a substrate. In order to improve energy conversion efficiency and R&D competition is accelerating, why should we deliberately use unfamiliar new materials in this context?

Professor Nengmu recalled: “As an assistant professor, I have graduated from the Faculty of Agriculture with a specialty in forestry and production. Although I had met at the Academy before, I never imagined that he would study at Osaka University. The Institute, engaged in the research of organic electronic materials, once ran across the corridor and could not help but said: 'I want to use transparent paper as a substrate to make organic thin-film solar cells.You can help me.' He immediately said,' It seems very interesting. It must help.” He readily agreed that it was precisely because he knew the characteristics of cellulose nanofibers. I was very fortunate.”

Non-heating, room temperature stamping energy-saving technology

Now, substrates for organic thin-film solar cells use glass with good heat resistance and low thermal expansion, while transparent electrodes use indium tin oxide (ITO) transparent conductive films. Indium tin oxide transparent conductive film is not only resistant to bending, but also use rare metal indium. In addition, the “sputtering method” for high-temperature heating is used for the film formation, which is expensive and does not match the substrate that is not resistant to high temperatures.

To address this situation, Prof. Nanako and others used transparent paper as a substrate, and used a silver nanowire transparent conductive film as a transparent electrode to develop a new type of organic thin film solar cell. The silver nanowire transparent conductive film is a conductive film made by uniformly printing a silver nanowire-doped ink on a substrate by using a printing technique, and has a very good flexibility.

Professor Nengmu said: "As a substitute for the indium tin oxide transparent conductive film, although the silver nanowire transparent conductive film is highly anticipated, the surface is too rough. If it is applied to an organic electronic component whose film thickness is only a few nanometers, it is easy. In order to reduce the roughness, I attempted to punch from top to bottom. Although this is a stupid way for amateurs, but also made a smooth silver nanowire transparent conductive film, so that we can successfully trial production Organic thin-film solar cells. Moreover, this method is room-temperature stamping without heating, so it can be promoted as an energy-saving technology."

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