An organic synaptic transistor with Nafion electrolyte

Abstract

An organic electrochemical transistor with the organic semiconductor poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):polystyrene sulfonate (PEDOT:PSS) film as the channel and the Nafion film as the solid electrolyte has been introduced. The channel current of this transistor can be modulated by proton intercalation driven by the gate voltage pulses. Moreover, the change ratio of the channel current strongly depends on the relative humidity (RH) of environment. With the RH of 26.1%, synaptic plasticity such as short-term potentiation (STP), paired-pulse facilitation (PPF), and the STP to long-term potentiation (LTP) transition have been emulated based on this device, where the channel conductance acts as the synaptic weight and the gate voltage pulses are regarded as the action potential. This kind of organic synaptic transistor is easy for fabrication and stable at temperatures up to 190 °C, which provides a potential candidate for flexible and biocompatible electronic devices.