Organic materials have been widely used in photovoltaic solar applications because of their flexibility and low cost. Poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT) has been known to have good mechanical stability under stretching and bending and also has good electrical and optical properties. Unlike inorganic materials, PEDOT can withstand high strains. In flexible solar cells, modules are usually exposed to heating–cooling cycles during day and night. When the structure of a thin film on a flexible substrate is exposed to high temperatures, the film and the substrate will expand at different rates; this will produce a residual strain caused by the thermal mismatch between the two layers. In contrast, indium–tin oxide (ITO) is brittle, and its conductivity decreases significantly as the ITO films are exposed to stretching or bending strains, especially in flexible/foldable solar cell applications. Cracks in ITO appear at very low strains that might cause failure in the conductive layer because of the combination of a very thin film of brittle ceramic material applied to a polymer substrate. In this work, a comparison of the thermal stability was conducted between PEDOT and ITO on flexible polyethylene terephthalate (PET) substrate. The performances of the two candidates were assessed during thermal bending fatigue and accelerated thermal cycling experiments. This work was designed to study the behavior of ITO and PEDOT under thermal cycling and thermal bending fatigue.

中文翻译：

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柔性基板上聚（3,4-乙烯二氧噻吩）（PEDOT）和ITO的热稳定性比较

由于有机材料的柔韧性和低成本，它们已被广泛用于光伏太阳能应用中。已知聚（3，4-乙撑二氧噻吩）（PEDOT）在拉伸和弯曲下具有良好的机械稳定性，并且还具有良好的电学和光学性质。与无机材料不同，PEDOT可以承受高应变。在柔性太阳能电池中，组件通常白天和黑夜都经历加热-冷却循环。当柔性基板上的薄膜结构暴露于高温下时，薄膜和基板将以不同的速度膨胀；这将由于两层之间的热失配而产生残余应变。相反，铟锡氧化物（ITO）较脆，随着ITO膜受到拉伸或弯曲应变，其电导率会大大降低，特别是在柔性/可折叠太阳能电池应用中。ITO裂纹以非常低的应变出现，这可能是由于将非常薄的脆性陶瓷材料薄膜结合到聚合物基材上而导致导电层出现故障的原因。在这项工作中，在柔性聚对苯二甲酸乙二醇酯（PET）基板上的PEDOT和ITO之间进行了热稳定性比较。在热弯曲疲劳和加速热循环实验中评估了这两个候选材料的性能。这项工作旨在研究ITO和PEDOT在热循环和热弯曲疲劳下的行为。ITO裂纹以非常低的应变出现，这可能是由于将非常薄的脆性陶瓷材料薄膜结合到聚合物基材上而导致导电层出现故障的原因。在这项工作中，在柔性聚对苯二甲酸乙二醇酯（PET）基板上的PEDOT和ITO之间进行了热稳定性比较。在热弯曲疲劳和加速热循环实验中评估了这两个候选材料的性能。这项工作旨在研究ITO和PEDOT在热循环和热弯曲疲劳下的行为。ITO裂纹以非常低的应变出现，这可能是由于将非常薄的脆性陶瓷材料薄膜结合到聚合物基板上而导致导电层出现故障的原因。在这项工作中，在柔性聚对苯二甲酸乙二醇酯（PET）基板上的PEDOT和ITO之间进行了热稳定性比较。在热弯曲疲劳和加速热循环实验中评估了这两个候选材料的性能。这项工作旨在研究ITO和PEDOT在热循环和热弯曲疲劳下的行为。在热弯曲疲劳和加速热循环实验中评估了这两个候选材料的性能。这项工作旨在研究ITO和PEDOT在热循环和热弯曲疲劳下的行为。在热弯曲疲劳和加速热循环实验中评估了这两个候选材料的性能。这项工作旨在研究ITO和PEDOT在热循环和热弯曲疲劳下的行为。