Research organizations are conducting tremendous amounts of R&D in the field of flexible and printed electronics, and it should come as no surprise that the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft e.V. with its institutes is among the leaders in that regard. With 66 individual institutes covering a wide range of disciplines, the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft has the expertise to create new technologies for this growing field.
 
One example comes from the Fraunhofer Institute for Silicate Research ISC, which recently highlighted new multifunctional materials at Printed Electronics Europe 2015 in Berlin. Fraunhofer ISC showcased barrier materials, printed electronics, electrochromic films and smart materials. In particular, the ORMOCER^®s barrier films are already being used in pilot manufacturing of flexible and printed electronics, from displays to radio-frequency identification (RFID). ORMOCER^®s are a material class of inorganic-organic hybrid polymers based on chemical nanotechnology applied via sol-gel process.
 
Beginning in 1985, Fraunhofer ISC focused on the development of these inorganic-organic hybrid polymers, especially as coating for glass to get scratch-resistant spectacles and magnifying lenses, but the potential for application as barrier materials for printed electronics soon became apparent.
 
“Our R&D within the field of (printed) electronics began end of 1987 as the Fraunhofer ISC turned its efforts towards optical, electrical and photonic devices for dielectrics, passivation, packaging and encapsulation with ORMOCER^®s as an important material,” Dr. Michael Popall, who established that research and development as young researcher at that time, said. “ORMOCER^®s function now as a certain barrier against water, oxidation and even have some stability against UV radiation, could be patterned and applied to various substrates such as glass, ceramics, metals and synthetic materials.”
 
From 1992 to 2000, Fraunhofer ISC improved the sol-gel process, and cooperation with industry and engineering companies became more important. As a result, ORMOCER^®s were no longer for a niche market, but suitable for the mass market.
 
Along the way, Fraunhofer ISC has won numerous awards for those materials and their technology. Dr. Popall received in 2002 for a large European Project the “Wissenschaftspreis des Stifterverbands für die deutsche Wissenschaft” for ORMOCER^® based optical and electrical Interconnection and Packaging Technology. Within the flexible encapsulation field, Dr. Sabine Amberg-Schwab of Fraunhofer ISC together with Dr. Klaus Noller of Fraunhofer IVV received the Fraunhofer Preis 2011 for the development of a low cost and efficient roll-to-roll production of high barrier films, and in 2012, Gerhard Doman received the OE-A Demonstrator Award for the best publicly funded project demonstrator, for a pedestrian protection sensing system developed as part of the EU-funded 3PLAST project.
 
Dr. Popall credited Fraunhofer ISC’s  extensive experience with providing advantages for developing these projects and materials. “Fraunhofer ISC has decades of experience in the field of printed electronics, smart materials and barrier films and is therefore able to go along with new trends and developments,” Dr. Popall, now the head of ISC International, reported. “The focus was always on applied research with a view to economic and ecologic aspects. As a strong partner for national and global  companies, Fraunhofer ISC always adapted and optimized its materials and methods to the latest technologies and production processes.”
 
ORMOCER^®s offer numerous advantages, beginning with its inorganic and organic characteristics and its ability to be applied at low temperatures with low cost technology.
 
“ORMOCER^®s can be applied nearly to all kind of materials,” said Dr. Popall. “They can be adapted to specific customer requirements for use in mechanical, biomedical, dental, electrochemical or optical applications, and are applied at low temperatures in an efficient and low-cost wet-chemical coating method and thus eliminate vacuum or thermal post-treatment processes.”
 
“As ORMOCER^®s achieve a plain surface at the nanoscale range, they can also be used in high resolution technology,” Dr. Popall added. “Furthermore, it is possible to create these ORMOCER^®s with multifunctional properties such as protection against corrosion, scratches, abrasion, water or dust, as well as anti-reflection, electrochromic, and easy-to-clean functions – of course respecting, that extreme tuning of one property will cause compromises in the other properties. Last but not least ORMOCER^®s are transparent and therefore applicable almost anywhere without changing color of the substrate. However, the coatings can be colored.”
 
With these properties ORMOCER^®s have plenty of potential uses. “There are several markets as there is versatile use,” Dr. Popall noted. “For example, high barrier films can be used for organic electronics such as lightweight flexible solar cells. As these solar cells could be encapsulated with a thin film instead of glass, they could be installed on any roof without reaching the bearing load.
 
“Electronics with ORMOCER^®s are already used by well-known manufacturers worldwide, as it is possible to coat not only small cell phone displays but large screens that you can even coil up,” Dr. Popall said. “Another example is the use as dielectric and packaging material in electronic interconnection technology e.g. for RFID that replaces the bar code or as optical micro lenses for sensing and interconnection. High barrier films can also be used for pharmaceutical packaging or highly sensitive components.”
 
The next step in the field of barrier films is now to get biobased and biodegradable coatings,” Dr. Popall added. “The novel bioORMOCER^®e are chemically modified biopolymers such as cellulose and chitosan, that protects the content against oxygen, water, flavors or chemical substances, or reverse ensures that they can’t escape. So far conventional biological materials don’t met these requirements. Initial tests show significant decay after six weeks, but degradation rates can be adapted to the desired packaging properties. The Fraunhofer ISC invented the bioORMOCER^®s within the European project “DibbioPack,” short for “Development of Injection and blow extrusion molded BIOdegradable and multifunctional PACKages by nanotechnology.”
 
Dr. Popall said that Fraunhofer ISC believes that the market for flexible and transparent electronics will continue to expand, as there are many advantages compared to conventional materials and technologies, and Fraunhofer ISC will try to play a major role in this development.
 
“As technology and materials offer more and more low cost printing methods, the ORMOCER^®-packaging in future even can allow instead of displays just simple screens/posters with possibility to animate, e.g. for advertising purposes or just to change color on walls, ceiling or furniture”, Dr. Popall added. “Or in the future you can drive your shopping cart through the cash register without unpacking the food and pulling out your credit card as the groceries packages will have RFID labels with the advantages mentioned afore – all possible also with materials of Fraunhofer ISC.”