Enhanced moisture-barrier property and flexibility of zirconium oxide/polymer hybrid structures.

New zirconium oxide (ZrO)-based organic-inorganic multilayers were fabricated and tested for flexible moisture barriers and compared with typical aluminum oxide (AlO)-based multilayers. We report that amorphous ZrO had a better intrinsic barrier property than that of amorphous AlO. Due to the lower elastic modulus of ZrO, the ZrO-based structures had better flexibility than that of the AlO-based structures. The ZrO-based barrier was superior to the AlO-based barrier not only for flexibility but also for barrier performance. The barrier property and flexibility of the ZrO-based structures were enhanced by about 20% and 30% over those of the AlO-based structures, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]