Novel method to evaluate moisture permeation of the metal barrier coating on polymer substrate

Water is detrimental to the performance of organic light-emitting devices and organic solar cells. A novel weight gain test (WGT) was introduced and demonstrated to measure the low permeation of water vapor through a metallic barrier coating on a polymer substrate. By using the WGT, the values of solubility, diffusivity and permeability for a sample are obtained with a simple experimental setup and diffusion equation. The WGT method has potential for the measurement of water-vapor permeation properties for samples with good barrier properties and irregular shape.