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A stable solution-processed polymer semiconductor with record high-mobility for printed transistors.

ABSTRACT: Microelectronic circuits/arrays produced via high-speed printing instead of traditional photolithographic processes offer an appealing approach to creating the long-sought after, low-cost, large-area flexible electronics. Foremost among critical enablers to propel this paradigm shift in manufacturing is a stable, solution-processable, high-performance semiconductor for printing functionally capable thin-film transistors - fundamental building blocks of microelectronics. We report herein the processing and optimisation of solution-processable polymer semiconductors for thin-film transistors, demonstrating very high field-effect mobility, high on/off ratio, and excellent shelf-life and operating stabilities under ambient conditions. Exceptionally high-gain inverters and functional ring oscillator devices on flexible substrates have been demonstrated. This optimised polymer semiconductor represents a significant progress in semiconductor development, dispelling prevalent skepticism surrounding practical usability of organic semiconductors for high-performance microelectronic devices, opening up application opportunities hitherto functionally or economically inaccessible with silicon technologies, and providing an excellent structural framework for fundamental studies of charge transport in organic systems.

SUBMITTER: Li J

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3474992 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:Large-scale commercial synthesis of bulk-heterojunction (BHJ) solar cell materials is very challenging and both time and energy consuming. Synthesis of π-conjugated polymers (CPs) with uniform batch-to-batch molecular weight and low dispersity is a key requirement for better reproducibility of high-efficiency polymer solar cells. Herein, a conjugated polymer (CP) PTB7-Th, well known for its high performance, has been synthesized with high molecular weight and low dispersity in a closed microwave reactor. The microwave reaction procedure is known to be more controlled and consumes less energy. The precursors were strategically reacted for different reaction time durations to obtain the optimum molecular weight. All different CPs were well characterized using 1H NMR, gel permeation chromatography (GPC), UV-vis, photoluminescence (PL), electron spin resonance (ESR), and Raman spectroscopy, whereas the film morphology was extensively studied via atomic force microscopy (AFM) and grazing incidence X-ray diffraction (GIXRD) techniques. The effect of molecular weight on a conventional BHJ solar cell with PC71BM acceptor was investigated to derive systematic structure-property relationships. The CP obtained after 35 min of reaction time and integrated into BHJ devices under ambient conditions provided the best performance with a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 8.09%, which was quite similar to the results of CPs synthesized via a thermal route. An enhanced PCE of 8.47% was obtained for the optimized polymer (35 min microwave reaction product) when device fabrication was carried out inside a glovebox. The organic thin-film transistor (OTFT) device with the microwave-synthesized CP displayed better hole mobility (0.137 cm2 V-1 s-1) as compared to that with the thermally synthesized CP. This study also proved that the device stability and reproducibility of the microwave-synthesized CP were much better and more consistent than those of the thermally developed CP.

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A stable solution-processed polymer semiconductor with record high-mobility for printed transistors.

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