Carboxyl-Alkyl Functionalized Conjugated Polyelectrolytes for High Performance Organic Electrochemical Transistors

作者：Zeyuan Sun, Brian Khau, Hao Dong, Christopher J. Takacs, Shuhan Yuan, Mengting Sun, Bar Mosevitzky Lis, Dang D. Nguyen, Elsa Reichmanis · 发表于：Chemistry of Materials · 年份：2023 · DOI：10.1021/acs.chemmater.3c02103 · 被引用次数：27 · 研究领域：Conducting polymers and applications、Advanced Sensor and Energy Harvesting Materials、Organic Electronics and Photovoltaics

High Resolution Image Download MS PowerPoint Slide Contemporary design principles for organic mixed ionic electronic conductors (OMIECs) are mostly based on the ethylene glycol moiety, which may not be representative of the OMIEC class as a whole. Furthermore, glycolated polymers can be difficult to synthesize and process effectively. As an emerging alternative, we present a series of polythiophenes functionalized with a hybrid carboxyl-alkyl side chain. By variation of the alkyl spacer length, a comprehensive evaluation of both the impact of carboxylic acid functionalization and alkyl spacer length was conducted. COOH-functionalization endows the polymer with preferential intrinsic low-swelling behavior and water processability to yield solvent-resistant conjugated polyelectrolytes while retaining substantial electroactivity in aqueous environments. Advanced in situ techniques, including time-resolved spectroelectrochemistry and Raman spectroscopy, are used to interrogate the materials’ microstructure, ionic-electronic coupling, and operational stability in devices. To compare these materials’ performance to state-of-the-art technology for the design of OMIECs, we benchmarked the materials and demonstrated significant application potential in both planar and interdigitated organic electrochemical transistors (OECTs). The polythiophene bearing carboxyl-butyl side chains exhibits greater electrochemical performance and faster doping kinetics within the polymer series, with a r...