Electronic Performance of Polymer Carbon‐Paste Nanoallotropes from 0D to 3D as Novel Gate Electrodes in Water‐Gated Organic Field‐Effect Transistors

Abstract

AbstractWater‐gated organic field‐effect transistors (WGOFETs) are expected to have a strong impact in the field of electronic biosensors owing to the synergism between the transduction function of the transistors with the fact that they can be operated in physiological media. Nonetheless, a limited library of gate electrodes has currently been explored for this aim. Herein, different polymer nanocomposite carbon paste gate electrodes (NC‐CPgEs) are successfully exploited for the first time as unusual nonmetal gate electrodes in WGOFET devices employing four types of carbon nanoallotropes with dimensionality ranging from 0D to 3D (i.e., carbon nanohorns, carbon nanotubes, reduced graphene oxide, and graphite, respectively). Interestingly, after an accurate electrochemical and electrical characterization, it is demonstrated that the WGOFETs with the developed NC‐CPgEs reveal excellent behaviors comparable to that achieved with conventional gate electrodes, such as gold or glassy carbon electrodes. Further, depending on the carbon nature the device performance can be tuned, being the devices based on reduced graphene oxide the ones showing a better electrical response. Accordingly, this work can pave the way for widespread applications of NC‐CPgEs for the development of a new generation of WGOFET devices based on carbon nanostructures.