Broadly applicable hydrophilic additive enhances electrochemical transistor function
Abstract
Organic semiconductors offering efficient mixed ionic-electronic charge transport are key components of organic electrochemical transistors (OECTs) needed for future bioelectronics and other technologies. However, hydrophobic semiconductors typically have limited ion mobility and are unstable in aqueous environments, restricting OECT applications. To address these issues, we report a broadly applicable strategy for high-performance OECTs by blending polymeric semiconductors with a photocrosslinkable hydrophilic ion-conducting supplement, poly(ethyleneglycol)-dimethylacrylate (PEGDMA). The result is ordered, interconnected semiconductor domains within an amorphous ion-conducting matrix, enabling rapid and reversible doping/dedoping without compromising charge transport. This approach enhances OECT performance across diverse electrolytes, semiconductors, and device architectures. Furthermore, PEGDMA enables high-resolution photopatterning of both semiconductors (<0.4 μm) and electrolytes (<2 μm), affording high-stability OECTs sustaining >10,000 cycles. This approach also enables wafer-scale array fabrication of 2,548 OECTs on 2” wafer, and miniaturized inverter, NAND, and NOR circuits. Also demonstrated are integration of these OECTs with a photosensor, creating a vision sensing array (10 × 10 pixels) that mimics visual image processing similar to the brain’s perception system.
Article Details
Journal Info
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
National Academy of Sciences
Authors (20)
Lin Gao
Yongjoon Cho
Department of Chemical Engineering
Rui Wang
Yao Yao
Dayong Zhang
Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Biodiversity Science and Ecological Engineering, College of Life Sciences, Beijing Normal University
Yifan Wang
Yongfa Cheng
Department of Chemistry and the Materials Research Center, Northwestern University
Yuyang Wang
State Key Laboratory of Low-Dimensional Quantum Physics, Department of Physics, Tsinghua University
Qing Ma
DND-CAT, Synchrotron Research Center, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois 60208, United States
Isaiah Duplessis
Department of Chemistry and the Materials Research Center, Northwestern University
Sein Chung
Department of Chemical Engineering, Pohang University of Science and Technology
Evan Wilson
School of Materials Science and Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology
Kilwon Cho
Department of Chemical Engineering, Pohang University of Science and Technology
Binghao Wang
School of Electronic Science and Engineering, Southeast University
Lu Li
Jonathan Rivnay
Department of Biomedical Engineering, McCormick School of Engineering
Hong Wang
Junsheng Yu
School of Materials Science and Engineering, Chongqing University of Arts and Sciences
Tobin J. Marks
Department of Chemistry, the Materials Research Center, Trienens Institute for Sustainability and Energy
Antonio Facchetti
Department of Chemistry, the Materials Research Center, Trienens Institute for Sustainability and Energy