Mutual intercropping-inspired co-silanization to graft well-oriented organosilane as adhesion promotion nanolayer for flexible conductors

This study demonstrates the co-silanization engineering on the polyimide (PI) film by mutual intercropping of two organosilane molecules to improve their grafting orientability and enhance the adsorbability toward the PI substrate and loaded metal atoms. The mutual intercropping-inspired co-silanization engineering is implemented by using 3-[(trimethylsilyl)ethynyl]pyridine (TEP) as a supporting organosilane to spatially confine the grafting orientation of the supported aminosilane, 3-[2-(2-aminoethylamino)ethylamino]propyl-trimethoxysilane (ETAS), leading to the formation of a well-oriented organosilane composite nanolayer as adhesion promotion layer for flexible conductors. The flexible Cu conductor electrolessly deposited on the PI film by co-silanization shows improved adhesion strength (0.9 kgf/cm) compared to those based on mono-silanization (0.51 kgf/cm) and sputtered Ta/Cu (0.4 kgf/cm). Superior deformability (bendability) was also achieved for the co-silanized Cu/PI sample by retaining good electrical property after bending cycle up to 1000.Graphical abstract
Source: Journal of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry - Category: Chemistry Source Type: research