High-density polyethylene - an inert additive with stabilizing effects on organic field-effect transistors

Published

September 11, 2020

Author(s)

Alberto Scaccabarozzi, James Basham, Liyang Yu, Paul Westcott, Weimin Zhang, Aram Amassian, Iain McCulloch, Mario Caironi, David J. Gundlach, Natalie Stingelin

Abstract

Organic electronics technologies have attracted considerable interest over the last decades and have become promising alternatives to conventional, inorganic platforms for specific applications. To fully exploit the touted potential of plastic electronics, however, other prerequisites than only electronic functions need to be fulfiled, including good mechanical stability, ease of processing and high device reliability. A possible method to overcome these issues is the employment of insulating:semiconducting polymers blends, which have been demonstrated to display favourable rheological and mechanical properties, generally provided by the insulating component, without negatively affecting the optoelectronic performance of the semiconductor. Here, we demonstrate that binary blends comprising the semicrystalline high- density polyethylene (HDPE) in combination with p-type and n-type organic semiconductors allow fabrication of organic thin-film transistors of notably improved device stability and, in some scenarios, improved device performance. We observe, for example, considerably lower sub- treshhold slopes and drastically reduced bias-stress effects in devices fabricated with a p- type diketopyrrolopyrrole polymer derivative when blended with HDPE, and significantly enhanced charge-carrier mobilities and shelf life in case of transistors made with blends between HDPE and the n-type polymer poly[N,N0-bis(2-octyldodecyl)-naphthalene-1,4,5,8- bis(dicarboximide)2,6-diyl]-alt-5,50-(2,20-bithiophene)}, i.e. P(NDI2OD‐T2), also known as N2200, compared to the neat material, highlighting the broad, versatile benefits blending semiconducting species with a semicrystalline commodity polymer can have.

Citation

Journal of Materials Chemistry C

Volume

8

Issue

43

Pub Type

Journals

Download Paper

https://doi.org/10.1039/D0TC03173A

Local Download

Keywords

organic electronics, thin film transistors, polymers

Citation

Scaccabarozzi, A. , Basham, J. , Yu, L. , Westcott, P. , Zhang, W. , Amassian, A. , McCulloch, I. , Caironi, M. , Gundlach, D. and Stingelin, N. (2020), High-density polyethylene - an inert additive with stabilizing effects on organic field-effect transistors, Journal of Materials Chemistry C, [online], https://doi.org/10.1039/D0TC03173A, https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=930704 (Accessed April 25, 2024)