Interfacial Charge Transport Enhancement of Liquid-Crystalline Polymer Transistors Enabled by Ionic Polyurethane Dielectric

Abstract

In organic field-effect transistors (OFETs) using disordered organic semiconductors, interface traps that hinder efficient charge transport, stability, and device performance are inevitable. Benchmark poly(9,9-dioctylfuorene-co-bithiophene) (F8T2) liquid-crystalline polymer semiconductor has been extensively investigated for organic electronic devices due to its promising combination of charge transport and light emission properties. This study demonstrates that high-capacitance single-layered ionic polyurethane (PU) dielectrics enable enhanced charge transport in F8T2 OFETs. The ionic PU dielectrics are composed of a mild blending of PU ionogel and PU solution, thereby forming a solid-state film with robust interfacial characteristics with semiconductor layer and gate electrode in OFETs and measuring high capacitance values above 10 µF cm−2 owing to the combined dipole polarization and electric double layer formation. The optimized fabricated ionic PU-gated OFETs exhibit a low-voltage operation at −3 V with a remarkable hole mobility of over 5 cm2 V–1 s–1 (average = 2.50 ± 1.18 cm2 V–1 s–1), which is the highest mobility achieved so far for liquid-crystalline F8T2 OFETs. This device also provides excellent bias-stable characteristics in ambient air, exhibiting a negligible threshold voltage shift of −0.03 V in the transfer curves after extended bias stress, with a reduced trap density. © 2024 Wiley-VCH GmbH.