High-performance n-channel organic thin-film transistor based on naphthalene diimide

A conjugated molecule comprising 1,4,5,8-naphthalene diimide (NDI) substituted with two octadecylamine (OD) chains has been synthesized (NDI-OD2) in a single step from commercial materials, and its organic thin-film transistor (OTFT) devices on glass substrate have been studied using poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) gate dielectric material. Although we utilized the PVA dielectric without any intermediate buffer layer or PVA cross-linkers, excellent electron mobility as high as ∼1.0 cm(2)V(-1) s(-1) are obtained. This NDI-OD2 molecule exhibits comparable optical (Eg(UV) ∼3.1 eV) and electrochemical band gaps (Eg(CV) ∼3.02 eV) with a lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) energy levels of ∼3.3 eV. When processed by solution method, this material forms rod-shaped crystalline microstructures, whereas, when thermally deposited, it assumes the formation of smooth 2D films. The chemical as well as physical properties and theoretical calculations of NDI-OD2 have been studied and the effect of the C-18 alkyl chain unit has been discussed. The OTFT consisting of NDI-OD2 exhibits excellent performance parameters such as high electron mobility (μe) and Ion-to-Ioff ratio. After demonstrating the high performance of NDI-OD2-based TFT devices fabricated with biocompatible PVA dielectric, we have also demonstrated that these devices can be degraded because of the presence of this PVA dielectric when exposed to a high-moisture environment. The systematic degradation of the device activity in a controlled way within 10 days of exposure (>80% moisture) is also presented here. In this study, a conceptually important feature and futuristic aspect that the n-channel TFT devices can also be biodegraded irreversibly is demonstrated. This concept of developing a low cost and biodegradable OTFT device with biocompatible PVA dielectric with excellent electron mobility is expected to have diverse applications in disposable electronic tags, biomedical devices, and food industry packing.