Abstract
ITO (Indium-Tin-Oxide) has often been used in electronic devices because it has considerable transparency and high conductivity. In this study, we considered the mechanism of the degradation of ITO coated PET film by ITO accelerated photochemical oxidation. An ITO/PET film and a PET film were irradiated by UV-light. The weight loss of ITO/PET film during UV-irradiation was larger than that of PET film. X-ray photoemission spectroscopy showed that the intensity of C1s spectra for the bonding [O=C-O] and [-CO-] decreased in the area of PET closer to ITO layer. These indicated that ITO accelerated a decomposition of PET during UV-irradiation. In addition, the adhesive strength between ITO layer and epoxy resin decreased after UV-irradiation. Moreover, the electrochemical measurement showed the similar shift between ITO and TiO2 in the rest potential as UV-light switched on and off. This indicated that ITO could show the mechanism analogous to that of TiO2 for the degradation of polymer such as PET during UV-irradiation.
