Dual-Mode Organic Electrochemical Transistors Based on Self-Doped Conjugated Polyelectrolytes for Reconfigurable Electronics

Dual mode transistors, the type of transistors that work in both depletion mode and enhancement mode, were reported more than 50 years ago using inorganic semiconductors (with silicon in 1963 and with III-V semiconductors in 1966). Thus far however, this type of devices has not been shown in organic electronics. In this talk, we report the dual mode organic transistors based on organic electrochemical transistors (OECTs) using self-doped conjugated polyelectrolytes as the active material. Via spectroelectrochemistry, we revealed a unique dual ionic transport property of these materials: they can be both doped and dedoped upon the interaction with anions and cations in an electrolyte. This property enables dual-mode functionality in OECTs, whose mode switching is accomplished by simply altering the polarity of the applied gate and drain voltages. Furthermore, we developed a device physics model which accurately describes the behavior of these transistors. We also demonstrated the utilization of dual-mode organic transistors in reconfigurable electronics by fabricating logic gates that could be switched between AND and NOR, and OR and NAND on the fly. Being simple, power efficient, and compatible with high throughput microfabrication techniques, dual mode OECTs are a promising candidate for the next generation of efficient computing systems and adaptive electronics.<br/><br/>Reference:<br/>(1) Nguyen-Dang, T.; Chae, S; Visell, Y.; Nguyen, T.-Q.; et al. Dual-Mode Organic Electrochemical Transistors Based on Self-Doped Conjugated Polyelectrolytes for Reconfigurable Electronics. <i>Adv. Mater.</i> <b>2022</b>, <i>23</i> (34), 2200274.<br/>(2) Nguyen-Dang, T.; Chae, S.; Visell, Y.; Nguyen, T.-Q. et al. Efficient Fabrication of Organic Electrochemical Transistors via Wet Chemical Processing. <i>ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces</i> <b>2022</b>, <i>14</i> (10), 12469–12478.<br/>(3) Lill, A. T.; Cao, D. X.; Nguyen-Dang, T.; Nguyen, T.-Q., et al, Organic Electrochemical Transistors Based on the Conjugated Polyelectrolyte PCPDTBT-SO3K (CPE-K). <i>Adv. Mater.</i> <b>2020</b>, <i>32</i> (33), 1908120.