Preparation of Nanocomposite-based High Performance Organic Field Effect Transistor via Solution Floating Method and Mechanical Property Evaluation.

Yeon Ju Kwon,Seungwan Ryu,Jea Uk Lee,Cheol Jin Lee,Youn Kim

doi:10.3390/polym12051046

Yeon Ju Kwon, Seungwan Ryu + Show 3 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/polym12051046

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Abstract

We demonstrate that using nanocomposite thin films consisting of semiconducting polymer, poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT), and electrochemically exfoliated graphene (EEG) for the active channel layer of organic field-effect transistors (OFETs) improves both device performances and mechanical properties. The nanocomposite film was developed by directly blending P3HT solution with a dispersion of EEG at various weight proportions and simply transferring to an Si/SiO2 substrate by the solution floating method. The OFET based on P3HT/EEG nanocomposite film showed approximately twice higher field-effect mobility of 0.0391 cm2·V−1·s−1 and one order of magnitude greater on/off ratio of ~104 compared with the OFET based on pristine P3HT. We also measured the mechanical properties of P3HT/EEG nanocomposite film via film-on-elastomer methods, which confirms that the P3HT/EEG nanocomposite film exhibited approximately 2.4 times higher modulus (3.29 GPa) than that of the P3HT film (1.38 GPa), while maintaining the good bending flexibility and durability over 10.0% of bending strain and bending cycles (1000 cycles). It was proved that the polymer hybridization technique, which involves adding EEG to a conjugated polymer, is a powerful route for enhancing both device performances and mechanical properties while maintaining the flexible characteristics of OFET devices.

Highlights

Organic semiconductors have several advantages over inorganic semiconductors such as flexibility, solution processability, mass production, and low-cost manufacturing, which allow the fabrication of a wide range of electronic devices [1]
Preparation and Characterization of organic field-effect transistors (OFETs) based on the P3HT/exfoliated graphene (EEG) Nanocomposite Films via Solution
OFET based on the P3HT/EEG nanocomposites was fabricated via the solution floating

Summary

Introduction

Organic semiconductors have several advantages over inorganic semiconductors such as flexibility, solution processability, mass production, and low-cost manufacturing, which allow the fabrication of a wide range of electronic devices [1]. To industrialize the organic electronic devices, the mobility of conjugated polymer semiconductors needs to be increased while maintaining its unique flexibility and solution-processability. Huang et al showed that the field-effect mobility of a semiconducting polymer/graphene hybrid OFET was four times higher than that of OFETs based on pure semiconducting polymers [21] These studies have discussed that the inclusion of functional nanocarbons can improve the morphology and increase the crystallinity of the active channel layers of the organic electronic devices. We fabricated an OFET based on nanocomposite films of conjugated polymer semiconductors as the matrix and electrochemically exfoliated graphene (EEG) as fillers using the solution-floating method. The OFET based on P3HT/EEG nanocomposite film showed approximately twice higher field-effect mobility of. The enhanced mechanical properties of the nanocomposite films are attributed to the enhancement of the film roughness and crystallinity, where the P3HT and EEG are tightly held together compared to an amorphous structure

Materials

Characterization

Results and Discussion

Methods

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