Photopatternable optical silicone materials have been developed that can be fabricated into flexible polymer waveguides using conventional film processing and photolithography techniques. Waveguides designed for multimode applications have demonstrated loss of 0.05 dB/cm at 850 nm. These waveguides have proven stable in 85% relative humidity and 85 C storage conditions for greater than 2000 ho...

For demonstrating widely tunable external cavity lasers operating for near-infrared (NIR) wavelength, a flexible polymer waveguide with an imbedded Bragg grating is incorporated. Due to the superior flexibility of the polymer material, the reflection wavelength of the Bragg grating is widely tunable by imposing tensile and compressive strains on the flexible Bragg grating. A third-order Bragg g...

The effect of the type of polymer used to disperse Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes (SWNTs) on the optical limiting performances of the resulting dispersions was studied. One conjugated polymer Poly(9,9-di-n-hexylfluorenyl-2,7-diyl) (PFO) possessing a flexible backbone, and two conjugated polymers Poly(2,5-dioctylphenylene1,4-ethynylene) (PPE), and Poly(9,9-dioctylfluorenyl-2,7-yleneethynylene) (...

This paper presents an enhanced piezoelectricity based sensor for touch and temperature sensing. The sensor is realized over flexible polyimide film, making it suitable for application like e-skin. The sensing material is composed of Polyvinylidene Fluoride-Trifluoroethylene (PVDF-TrFE) and Barium Titanate (BaTiO3) nanoparticles. While, the piezoelectric polymer PVDF-TrFE ensures the flexibilit...

A  commercial  Ti-Nanoxide  was  deposited  on  In-doped  SnO2 (ITO) polymer  substrates by  tape casting  technique with different thicknesses  (7,  14  and  36μm)  to  be  used  as  photoelectrode  in flexible  dye-sensitized  solar  cells  (DSSCs).  Ruthenium  dye  was adsorbed on each TiO2 film for 24 h. The resulting photoelectrodes were used to form flexible DSSCs in combination with...

The recycling of chemicals and generation of alternative energy are central topics in the efforts toward sustainable development. Among these, research on plastics recycling and fuel cells has received significant attention, with the aim of designing novel catalysts to improve yield and efficiency. We highlight our work on these areas focusing on the chemical depolymerization of polyethylene te...

We study the thermally activated barrier crossing of a linear, flexible chain (polymer) under the Kramers bistable potential using the multidimensional barrier crossing theory and the functional integral method. We find that above a critical chain length or below a critical chain spring constant the chain at the barrier top undergoes coil-to-stretch transition, resulting in the formation of a k...

Electrical double layer supercapacitor is very significant in the field of electrical energy storage which can be the solution for the current revolution in the electronic devices like mobile phones, camera flashes which needs flexible and miniaturized energy storage device with all non-aqueous components. The multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs) have been synthesized by catalytic chemical vapo...

We report on a simple and effective process that allows direct imprinting of microand nanostructures on non-flat surfaces using flexible polymer stamps. Pattern imprinting was tried using a UV-curable polymer blend containing poly(propylene glycol) diacrylate, trimethylolpropane triacrylate and a photoinitiator. The UV-resist was dispensed manually on convex and concave surfaces of a glass lens...

Organic-based flexible dielectric films with high permittivity (e) are desirable for future applications of organic thin-film transistors, such as smartcards and radio frequency identification (RFID) tags, that concurrently desire flexible or conformable substrates. Advances in the development of all-polymer field-effect transistors (PFETs) have been particularly significant for their potential...