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Single ion conducting, polymerized ionic liquid triblock copolymer films: high capacitance electrolyte gates for
Jae-Hong Choi1, Wei Xie2, Yuanyan Gu1
1†Department of Chemistry, University of Minnesota, 207 Pleasant Street SE, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455, United States.
ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces
|March 31, 2015
Summary
Researchers developed a novel polymerized ionic liquid (PIL) triblock copolymer for n-type organic transistors. This material enables low-voltage operation by preventing electrochemical doping, advancing complementary circuit development.
Area of Science:
- Materials Science
- Organic Electronics
- Electrochemistry
Background:
- Significant progress exists in p-type organic electrolyte-gated transistors (EGTs).
- Development of n-type organic transistors for complementary circuits is hindered by limited electrolyte research for n-type semiconductors.
- Electrochemical doping often degrades n-type organic EGT performance.
Purpose of the Study:
- To introduce a novel single ion conductor, a polymerized ionic liquid (PIL) triblock copolymer (PS-PIL-PS), as a gate dielectric for n-type organic EGTs.
- To demonstrate low-voltage operation of n-type organic EGTs using this PIL as the gate insulator.
- To investigate the role of ion penetration and electrochemical doping in n-type organic EGT performance.
Main Methods:
- Fabrication and characterization of a PS-PIL-PS triblock copolymer, a single ion conductor (TFSI anion).
- Impedance characterization of the PS-PIL-PS copolymer to understand polarization mechanisms (dipolar relaxation, ion migration, EDL formation).
- Fabrication of poly{[N,N'-bis(2-octyldodecyl)-naphthalene-1,4,5,8-bis(dicarboximide)-2,6-diyl]-alt-5,5'-(2,2'-bithiophene)} (P(NDI2OD-T2)) n-type organic EGTs using the PIL as a gate insulator.
Main Results:
- The PS-PIL-PS triblock copolymer functions as an effective gate dielectric for low-voltage n-type organic EGT operation.
- Impedance studies revealed controllable polarization regions influenced by film thickness, with rapid electric double layer (EDL) formation in thinner films (500 nm exhibiting ~1 μF/cm² capacitance at 10 kHz).
- Achieved low-voltage (<1 V supply) operation of P(NDI2OD-T2) n-type organic EGTs with electron mobility of ~0.008 cm²/Vs and an ON/OFF ratio of ~2 × 10³, by preventing electrochemical doping.
Conclusions:
- The novel single ion conducting PIL triblock copolymer enables efficient low-voltage operation of n-type organic EGTs by suppressing detrimental electrochemical doping.
- Performance of n-type organic EGTs is diminished by 3D electrochemical doping, suggesting the need for unipolar electrolytes.
- PIL block copolymer electrolytes offer a tunable platform to explore ion penetration effects in n-type organic EGTs.
