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Updated: Jan 22, 2026

Translating Extracellular Electron Transfer Activities with Organic Electrochemical Transistors
Published on: January 31, 2025
Fullerene Active Layers for n-Type Organic Electrochemical Transistors
Connor G Bischak1, Lucas Q Flagg1, Kangrong Yan2
1Department of Chemistry , University of Washington , Seattle , Washington 98195-1700 , United States.
Abstract:
Organic electrochemical transistors (OECTs) are currently being developed for applications ranging from bioelectronics to neuromorphic computing. We show that fullerene derivatives with glycolated side chains can serve as n-type active layers for OECTs with figures of merit exceeding the best reported conjugated-polymer-based n-type OECTs. By comparing two different fullerene derivatives, [6,6]-phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM) and 2-(2,3,4-tris(methoxtriglycol) phenyl) [60]fulleropyrrolidine (C60-TEG), we find that the hydrophilic glycolated side chains in C60-TEG enable volumetric doping of C60-TEG films. In contrast, the hydrophobic nature of PCBM prevents ions from penetrating into the material. Our results demonstrate that small-molecule semiconductors follow many of the same design principles established for conjugated polymers and can function as high-performing mixed electronic/ionic conductors for efficient, fast OECTs.
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