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Research Article | Open Access

Enhancing performance of fullerene-based organic electrochemical transistors via side-chain engineering

Wenxin Fang1,§, Zijie Li2,§, Chengdong Wang1,§, Xiaowei Zhao1, Junyu Li3, Gang Ye4, Fengwei Huo5, Li Qiu2( ), Yanxi Zhang1 ( ), Wei Huang6( )
Institute of Flexible Electronics (IFE, Future Technologies), Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, China
Yunnan Key Laboratory of Electromagnetic Materials and Devices, National Center for International Research on Photoelectric and Energy Materials, School of Materials and Energy, Yunnan University, Kunming 650091, China
Sinopec Shanghai Research Institute of Petrochemical Technology, Shanghai 201028, China
Key Laboratory for the Green Preparation and Application of Functional Materials, Hubei Key Laboratory of Polymer Materials, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Hubei University, Wuhan 430062, China
Key Laboratory of Flexible Electronics (KLOFE) & Institute of Advanced Materials (IAM), Jiangsu National Synergetic Innovation Center for Advanced Materials (SICAM), Nanjing Tech University (NanjingTech), Nanjing 211800, China
Frontiers Science Center for Flexible Electronics, MIIT Key Laboratory of Flexible Electronics (KLoFE), Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi'an 710072, China

§ Wenxin Fang, Zijie Li, and Chengdong Wang contributed equally to this work.

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Graphical Abstract

Organic electrochemical transistor (OECT) performance was improved by varying the length of the alkyl gasket on the side chain of the fullerene derivative, and the fullerene derivate-based OECTs with butyl and hexyl spacers showed enhanced transconductance (gm = 11.8 and 19.4 mS). Cationic sensing was also demonstrated using fullerene derivatives.

Abstract

The performance of organic electrochemical transistors (OECTs) relies on the interaction between organic semiconductors and ions. Consequently, hydrophilic ethylene glycol (EG) side chains are incorporated into organic semiconductors to improve the channel’s capacity to absorb ions. However, the EG substituted organic semiconductors tend to swell when immersed in aqueous electrolytes and exhibit microstructural changes induced by dopant ions. In our research, we introduce an alkyl spacer to create distance between the fullerene and EG chain. This approach is designed to reduce the negative effects of swelling and balance the ion and electron conduction. We conducted an analysis of OECTs using four fullerene derivatives: no alkyl spacer, butyl, hexyl, and octyl spacers. The OECTs based on fullerene derivatives with butyl and hexyl spacers exhibit enhanced transconductance (gm = 11.8 and 19.4 mS) compared to the ones without alkyl spacers. It has also been observed that the butyl and hexyl spacers lead to a more than tenfold increase in volumetric capacitance. Further increasing the alkyl spacer (octyl group) leads to no transistor behavior. Our study uncovers the relationship between alkyl spacers and the performance of OECTs based on fullerene derivatives. This will serve as a guideline for designing n-type small molecules for OECTs. Finally, we showcased the potential of utilizing OECTs based on these fullerene derivatives in cation sensing, which is promising for developing sweat sensors.

Keywords

organic electrochemical transistorsfullerene derivativesethylene glycol side chainsion and electron conduction

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Nano Research
Volume 18 Issue 2,
February 2025
Article number: 94907149
DOI: 10.26599/NR.2025.94907149
Cite this article:
Fang W, Li Z, Wang C, et al. Enhancing performance of fullerene-based organic electrochemical transistors via side-chain engineering. Nano Research, 2025, 18(2): 94907149. https://doi.org/10.26599/NR.2025.94907149
Topics:
Organic semiconductor materials

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Received: 30 September 2024
Revised: 01 November 2024
Accepted: 25 November 2024
Published: 07 January 2025
© The Author(s) 2025. Published by Tsinghua University Press.

This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
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