Vertical-Structure Improves The Strain Limit of OMIEC-Transistors

Organic mixed ionic-electronic conductors (OMIECs), also known as organic mixed conductors, such as PEDOT:PSS, are becoming increasingly important materials in various applications. One typical application is the development of organic electrochemical transistors (OECTs), which enable high sensitivity at low power consumption. PEDOT:PSS OECTs find significant applications in diverse fields, including brain-machine interfaces and ubiquitous wearable biosensing.<br/><br/>To enhance the robustness for skin-integrated applications, stretchable OECTs (sOECTs) have been developed [1]. However, most sOECTs require OMIECs films to possess good mechanical properties, which limit their use in this emerging area.<br/><br/>In this study, we introduce the design of vertical sOECTs [2]. The unique vertically sandwiched structure between the source, OMIEC channel, and drain electrodes enables significantly higher stretchability, surpassing the strain limit of OMIECs. sOECTs developed with this design can be stretched in arbitrary directions, making them suitable for a wide range of skin-interfaced bioelectronic applications.<br/><br/><b>References: </b><br/>[1]. Zhang S, Hubis E, Tomasello G, et al. Patterning of stretchable organic electrochemical transistors[J]. Chemistry of Materials, 2017, 29(7): 3126-3132.<br/>[2]. Dai S, Zhang S, Submitted.